


Time To Fall In Love

by AlxSteele



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Awkward Flirting, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Falling In Love, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Kissing, M/M, Malec, Misunderstandings, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, PartyPlanner!Magnus, Pining, Slow Burn, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Writer!Alec, all the cliches, basically a hallmark movie, cliches, like the cheesiest thing ever, reconnecting, seriously so much kissing, so much cheese
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-14 15:50:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 47,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13011066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlxSteele/pseuds/AlxSteele
Summary: Alec left New York six years ago. Deciding on a whim to move back home, he ends up living across the hall from someone straight out of his past, the man he was in love with in college. Alec doesn’t believe in Christmas magic, but he does believe in second chances.(Alternately: Magnus and Alec are each other’s big “what if’s”. What if Alec hadn’t moved away? What if they’d had the courage to confess how they felt about each other in college? What if they hadn’t been interrupted on graduation night? Six years later, they're brought back together around Christmas and given a chance to find out just what this is between them. Fluff. Hijinks. Lots of Christmas fun. And a few fake dates insue.)





	1. A Chance Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> What's this? A new Christmas fic! So, last year I wrote a Christmas Malec fic that updated every day for twelve days and I had a lot of fun with it and people seemed to like it so here we are again! This is basically a Hallmark movie. Lots of fluff and Christmas fun and slightly cliche!
> 
> This is dedicated to everyone who comments all the time on my fics and talks to me on Tumblr, I really love and appreciate you all and I hope you enjoy this! <3
> 
> Title from the song Time To Fall In Love by Lindsey Stirling, I do recommend listening to it to get into the holiday spirit!
> 
> (If you tweet about this fic I'd love you forever if you tagged it #AlxSteele)

Rolling over in bed, Magnus groaned. Reaching out for his phone on the night stand, he knocked it to the floor instead of grabbing it to turn off that god awful alarm. Why had he thought it would be amusing to make it sing the twelve days of Christmas to him?

It was the day after Thanksgiving, one of Magnus’ favorite days of the year. When he wasn’t hungover with a pounding headache and what felt like sandpaper in place of his tongue, that is. Why had he thought it was a good idea to go to Ragnor’s and get drunk after dinner? Especially when he had plans to get up at four a.m. – Four. In. The.  _Morning._ – to go black Friday shopping with Clary and Simon?

Cursing his past self, Magnus tripped, feet getting caught in his red silk sheets as he stumbled his way from bed. He sprawled out on the floor, reaching for his phone and finally shutting it off. Resting his forehead on the cold floor, Magnus breathed in and out, deep and slow for a moment. The headache abated somewhat and really it was nothing a few ibuprofen couldn’t cure.

By the time he managed to get to his feet, Magnus was grinning. He hummed a Christmas carol under his breath, turning to quickly get dressed. He was meeting Clary and Simon at the twenty-four-hour diner on the corner in less than twenty minutes so they could have a quick breakfast before braving the crowds.

Magnus had, of course, already done a good portion of his Christmas shopping — an expensive bottle of Scotch for Ragnor, books for Raphael, a lovely pair of earrings for Catarina — but it wasn’t about the shopping on black Friday, at least, not for him. For Magnus, it was about getting the full holiday experience. He’d never had much of a Christmas growing up, after his mom died and his stepfather abandoned him to grow up in the system, Christmas was never a cheery time of year, even the years he spent with Raphael’s family held a sort of strange melancholy for him. Therefore, every year since Magnus was old enough to make it so, he’d been determined to always get the most out of Christmas. Starting on the unofficial start to the holiday season: black Friday.

***

Alec spent Thanksgiving night on a plane. It wasn’t where he would normally choose to spend it, but it was simply how things had worked out. He’d lived in Seattle for going on six years now, since moving out there right after college, and since then, he’d only ever been back to New York for holidays but now he was moving back for good.

If Alec were honest, he wasn’t a hundred percent sure about the change, but he knew he was tired of living in Seattle. It wasn’t home. New York wasn’t much of a home, filled with unhappy memories of coming out to his parents (the reason he’d chosen to go to Seattle in the first place) and unhappy childhood years save for his siblings. But it was still a home, it was still ingrained in his bones, and he still missed it. Always had. Seattle was a great city, but it had nothing on New York.

He was tired of being so far away from his siblings and, when Lydia announced that she’d gotten a job offer in Connecticut and was taking it, Alec was confronted with the dreary possibility of living in a city where he had no real friends, no family, and honestly, he hated Seattle. There was too much rain and it was too far from New York. The thrill of living in a new city had long since warn off and, the last few months, since breaking it off with Raj, the city had slowly grown smaller around him, stifling his creative energies. Isabelle had been the one to set the idea alight, telling him he should just move back home, that all the real writers lived there anyway. And really, he’d had no reason to say no. He’d only gone to Seattle because he needed something new and Lydia, his best friend outside his siblings, was going there to finish law school. They’d been roommates ever since but it was time for a change. He was twenty-eight years old. He needed to stop running. There was nothing for him in Seattle but at least New York had Isabelle, Jace, and Max.

As for Thanksgiving, it was as soon as he could manage. He was supposed to have arrived the day before Thanksgiving, but flights had been canceled due to a snowstorm meaning he spent Thanksgiving in the airport having literally nowhere else to go. He’d had to spend the two days before that, waiting for the storm to pass, in a motel as he’d already shipped all his stuff to New York and canceled the lease on their apartment, Lydia having moved out the week before.

Alec had never intended to stay in Seattle for so long, it’d just happened. After he graduated and his parents were finally forced to understand that he wasn’t going to go to med school like they wanted, he’d moved away simply because he needed a change and Seattle seemed good enough. After moving, he’d somehow quickly found himself in possession of his first book deal for the novel he’d been writing all throughout college and it’d seemed perfect. His creative energies flourished with the change of pace that was Seattle. Lydia had gone to law school and then gotten a job, so it was easy enough to continue sharing an apartment with her. There were a few times the thought came up to move back but he would always suddenly find himself too busy doing something else. He’d go back home for Christmas and start considering moving back only for Lydia to tearfully admit she couldn’t swing the rent just then by herself. Or he’d go visit Isabelle and Jace for a week in the summer and have Izzy show him the perfect apartment only to meet someone in Seattle that had him lingering a little longer. He was on deadline. He didn’t have time to move across the country. He didn’t love Raj but maybe if he stayed a little longer he would.

He’d always intended to move back, he’d just never gotten around to it. Despite the need he’d had to get away from his parents who wanted him to settle down with a nice girl, go to med school, and join their practice, Alec had missed New York since the day he left and, looking out the windows as the plane began to land, he felt lighter than he had in months. He felt the itch in his fingers to write for the first time in weeks. A smile curving up his mouth as he stared down on the bright lights of the city. It’d been so long it felt like a whole different life, but he could still remember what it felt like, growing up there. Could still remember the first time he got drunk in a penthouse room of one of the most expensive hotels in New York City on graduation night. Could still remember life at NYU, that in his mind was dominated by the excitement of writing his first book and the sting of unrequited love harvested in late nights at the library and early mornings thick with the scent of fresh, bitter coffee and sweet blueberry muffins.

Alec shook his head, dispelling the memories as the plane landed. It’d been six years but, finally, he was home.

***

“Yeah. Yeah. I know, I’m late,” Magnus said, talking fast, breathing heavy as he collapsed into the booth next to Clary. “Chairman was out of food and my hair did not want to cooperate and my new neighbor must be moving in soon as there are half a dozen boxes outside their door, I nearly tripped. I could have  _died._ ”

Magnus breathed out heavily, gratefully accepting the cup of coffee Clary handed to him. One of his favorite things about the small diner was that they had the best coffee in the world and they served it in giant cups.

Magnus took a deep drink, breathing in the smell of coffee, savoring the bitter taste that burst across his tongue, eyes taking in the small, old-fashioned diner with red vinyl booths and old records hanging on the walls. Christmas lights had already been hung across the ceiling, the menu changed to holiday-themed food, the air smelling of all the warm spices of the holidays, making Magnus feel all warm on the inside.

Swallowing happily, he finally turned to his companions. Simon was asleep against the frosted glass window, snoring softly, with a blue pompom hat on his head. Shaking his head fondly, Magnus shared a look with Clary who was dressed festively in a red sweater and a red hat that matched Simon’s perfectly, sketching as she waited for him.

“Don’t worry,” Clary said, reaching out to poke Simon with her pencil. “Once we get shopping he’ll be wide awake. The crowds scare him.”

Magnus chuckled, turning to look over the menu when a shadow fell over them.

“Sorry I can’t stay and shop,” Isabelle said, flopping down across from them suddenly. Simon sat up immediately, wiping the drool from his chin and giving Isabelle a sheepish grin.

Magnus smiled as the dark-haired scientist sat down across from him. “I didn’t even know you were meeting us here.”

Isabelle shrugged, stealing Simon’s coffee with an adoring roll of her eyes. “Si,” she said. “We live together. I know you drool.”

Turning to Magnus, she explained. “I was just dropping Simon off. I have to go pick my brother up from the airport. You remember my brother, right? Alec? He’s moving back to New York – finally.”

Magnus fought the urge to perk up at the mention of Isabelle’s brother, heart skipping in an embarrassing fashion at the bare mention of his name. Magnus’ mind immediately started spinning. Alec was moving back to New York? Alec, who he hadn’t seen since… Graduation. Well, the early morning after graduation technically, Magnus thought. Alec, who Magnus had spent his entire college career crushing on but never made a move on despite inaction being against everything he believed in because Alec wasn’t out and then he was, but Magnus wasn’t sure he felt the same… Alec, who Magnus had gotten close to, in their last two years of college but hadn’t talked to since. Who Magnus had almost — but then they’d gone their separate ways and he hadn’t seen Alec since… Christmas. The first year after college.

“Of course, he remembers Alec,” Simon said, abruptly bringing Magnus back to the conversation. “They spent two years pining after each other.”

Magnus nearly choked on his coffee.

“Oh yeah,” Isabelle said, perking up. Her eyes shone as she smirked at Magnus in a way that said she’d been getting at this the whole time. “I can’t believe I forgot that.”

Magnus rolled his eyes. “You can’t forget something that never happened,” he said, recovering flawlessly. He and Alec hadn’t been pining for each other. Okay. Maybe Magnus had pinned a little but… It was just Magnus. Wasn’t it? They’d been friends. That was all. Good friends. Nothing more.

Magnus shook his head. “It doesn’t matter, anyway. It was forever ago.”

“Six years isn’t forever,” Isabelle teased, sharing a look with Simon.

“It is when you’re pining for lost love and missed chances,” Clary smirked, bumping Magnus’ shoulder. He glared at all three of them at once.

He and Alec had been…close in college but it was a long time ago. Magnus had fallen in with their group during his second to last year at NYU, when Clary was a freshman, right after her mom died, and Magnus made it his goal to be there for her, having known her for as long as he’d lived in New York which was since he was five and she two. Magnus had taken Clary under his wing as she was struggling a bit in her art. Magnus ended up becoming a party planner/interior designer, but he’d studied art at NYU, though Clary’s skills now outranked even his. With Clary had come Simon and Isabelle who brought Alec, who Magnus had been friendly with since their freshman year, and Jace, who was Magnus’ least favorite Lightwood. He and Alec had often got thrown together as the oldest of their group. Always…dancing around each other. Because yes, sure, there were times Magnus thought his crush might not be as one-sided as he thought but he’d never been sure.

Magnus got stuck for a moment, remembering the way Alec would blush around him at first, until he got comfortable around Magnus. The way they’d stare at each other just a little too long; the way Magnus’ heart would beat faster when he was near. He’d made it his goal, those last two years, to make sure Alec got the full college experience. Magnus had thought about Alec a lot since graduation, they didn’t keep in touch, only keeping up with each other through Isabelle. But Magnus had always wondered… Always thought of Alec as his what if. His ‘one that got away’. They’d kissed once, graduation night and then Magnus had gone off to Europe with Ragnor and Alec had moved to Seattle by the time he got back… But Magnus had always felt as if they just…didn’t quite end. Like there was still more there to happen between the two of them.

And now he was moving back to New York.

“We were just friends,” he insisted. “Good friends.”

Clary snorted next to Magnus but Magnus chose to ignore it.

“Remember how infatuated they were?” Clary teased.

Isabelle’s eyes danced as she smirked, nodding exaggeratedly. “Remember that Christmas we all spent at the cabin? And we kept moving the mistletoe, trying to get them under it?”

Clary laughed, nodding. “And the one time it finally happened, Jace ruined it by stepping in the middle of them and shrieking until someone removed the mistletoe.”

“And spring break? When they went away together and we were so  _sure_  something was finally going to happen but then the car broke down and the ended up back here, doing nothing.”

Magnus stared at the three of them, growing more and more horrified by the moment.

“And that time we literally ditched them so they had to go out alone together sure they’d get drunk and confess their feelings and instead we found them later that night toilet papering the dean’s house?”

“Oh. What about the time over the summer when we were all at that bonfire? And they sat off to the side all night and finally Simon just started shouting at them to kiss and they thought he was drunk but really we were just all tired of watching them make moony eyes at each other?”

“Okay,” Magnus said, perhaps a little too loudly. “Enough exaggerating now,” he said, waving their words away as nonsense.

Clary blinked at him. “We aren’t exaggerating.”

“Remember the bet?” Simon snorted suddenly.

Isabelle hit the table. “Shit, I totally forgot about that! I was so mad when I lost.”

Magnus ducked his head, shaking it slowly. “I have no idea what you’re all on about.”

“Mmhhmm. Sure,” Clary said, poking him in the side.

Isabelle was still looking at Magnus with that strange smirk. “Well, I have to go pick him up at the airport,” she said, standing again, squeezing Simon’s hand before pulling her gloves on. “We’ll see you guys later?”

Magnus waved, head still ducked to stare at the menu.

“You remember her brother, right?” Clary mocked as Isabelle left.

“Shut up,” Magnus replied, looking around for the waitress.

“Remember when you got drunk and confessed to Si and I that you loved Alec?”

Magnus glared at her. He did remember that. It’d been senior year, he was drunk and nostalgic, not ready for college to end. Alec and Lydia had just started talking about moving away, Magnus was getting ready to go to Europe with Ragnor for the summer having no idea what he’d do when they returned; They’d all gone to some party and Magnus had convinced himself that he was finally going to tell Alec how he felt only, before he could, Alec met someone else. Magnus had seen them kissing in the kitchen and immediately left, a bottle of something strong in hand, Clary and Simon trailing him like good friends.

“That was a long time ago,” Magnus said now, though he still felt the sting of the night as if it were yesterday. “I was in the prime of my youth and he was the sweet epitome of tall, dark, and handsome.”

“So, you’re saying you don’t care at all that he’s moving back to the city?” Clary asked, arching an eyebrow before sharing a knowing look with Simon.

Magnus shrugged. “Not at all. It’ll be nice to catch up, I suppose. But nothing more. I couldn’t care less,” he said, hiding his sigh of relief as the waitress showed up to take their order.

Simon and Clary were still sharing a look when the waitress walked away but thankfully refrained from saying anything more. They had a nice early morning breakfast before heading out into the crowds. Laughing madly amongst the pushing and shoving of hectic people, Magnus forgot all about their morning conversation. All about the dark-haired boy he’d possibly been in love with in college who had likely become a handsome as fuck dark haired man. Well, he almost managed to forget all about it. That was close enough.

***

“Ready to see your new apartment?” Isabelle grinned.

Alec bit his lip on a smile, rolling his eyes at his little sister’s antics. He was tired and in desperate need of a shower that had decent water pressure after living the last three days in a sleazy motel followed by the airport and plane. He just wanted to get clean, eat, and sleep for the next twenty-four hours, but he managed to muster the energy to be excited for Isabelle who, he knew, had spent weeks finding Alec an apartment she thought he would like even though, to be honest, Alec couldn’t care less what his apartment looked like.

They stood outside it now, in the middle of the day, having gotten stuck in New York traffic, the one thing Alec definitely hadn’t missed about the city.

It was a nice building in Brooklyn, by no means a hole in the wall place. They stood outside the apartment where half a dozen boxes with Alec’s name already waited, a few books he’d ordered and had shipped straight there as well as some new clothes he’d done the same with. Most his stuff wouldn’t be arriving until the next week, hopefully, he’d manage to go furniture shopping by then.

Isabelle held the key in her hand, back to the door, grinning up at Alec. “Trust me,” she said, “You’re going to love it.”

Once Isabelle had finally opened the door and let him in, Alec immediately saw that she was right. He loved it. It was two floors, the bottom which was one wide open room, save for a closet and a bathroom. The kitchen was small, open to living area, the floor bare stone that would need some spacious rugs so his feet wouldn’t freeze. The walls were covered in oak bookshelves that instantly had Alec falling in love with the place, save for the wall the door was on that was a dark blue/gray color. Across from the door was a wide balcony with glass doors that let in the perfect light. It was big but not too big with a staircase winding up in the middle of the room. Alec moved numbly, following the staircase up to a smaller room that had wooden walls and a matching floor, a skylight as they were on the top floor of the building, another bathroom, and more bookshelves on the walls.

“Okay, so here’s my thoughts,” Isabelle said, standing in the middle of the room, grinning widely. “This,” she said, gesturing to the room around them. “Not a bedroom but your office. Your desk will fit perfectly between the bookshelves there, you can add a comfortable chair or even a couch. The skylight has a remote so during the day if it’s too bright you can close it. And then,” she said, grabbing his hand and tugging him back downstairs. “We put up a partition in the corner to block off a small bedroom,” she said, gesturing to the corner of the room where a bed was already set up so he could sleep there that night. “More comfy chairs. A couch. A tv. Coffee table. Rugs. And ta-da! Bestselling author Alexander Gideon Lightwood’s perfect writing space,” she beamed before dragging him to the kitchen.

“Also,” Isabelle said, slightly breathless. “I already got you a housewarming present — along with essentials, sheets, a blanket, a pillow, some towels and soap until you have time to go shopping and your things arrive. You’re welcome.”

Alec’s eyes fell on the fancy, expensive coffee machine, eyes going wide.

“So, what do you think?” Isabelle asked, bouncing slightly on her heels, eyes shining.

Alec looked around slowly, breathing out through his nose. “It’s perfect.”

***

Magnus cursed, despising himself for insisting he didn’t need help with his Christmas tree. That was all good and well, until he got inside his apartment building only to find out the damned elevator was broken and he had to carry the — quite large — tree up six flights of stairs. He’d made it, somehow, cursing the whole way. Now, he leaned on the door to the stairwell, attempting to catch his breath, feeling like he couldn’t possibly take one more step only to try and find out the damned tree was stuck, caught on something he couldn’t see.

Cursing again, Magnus pushed and pulled at the six foot two, perfect Christmas tree, but it refused to budge. This is what he got for being too excited. It was only the first of December, a little too early to buy a tree but he couldn’t help himself, honestly, he couldn’t. Now he was paying the price.

Magnus was just about to give in and admit to defeat — ie: call Raphael to come help him — when he heard the telltale sound of footsteps heading up the stairs on the other side of the door, past the stuck tree.

“Um. Hello?” a deep, sexy Magnus couldn’t help but notice, voice called out as the owner of said voice likely stopped behind Magnus’ tree.

Magnus frowned. He couldn’t see who it belonged to as the tree branches thoroughly blocked whoever it was out, but the voice sounded oddly familiar. Was it one of his neighbors? No. Definitely not. Magnus’ eyes widened as he realized it must be the new neighbor. They’d moved in across the hall the day after Thanksgiving, which Magnus knew because he heard them moving around, coming and going, but he’d yet to catch a glimpse of them.

“Anyone there?”

Suddenly realizing he hadn’t said a word, Magnus cleared his throat. “Er. Yes. Sorry, my tree seems to be bigger than the doorway,” he laughed.

“Do you need some help?” the voice offered.

Magnus arched an eyebrow. “If you don’t mind, I’d love it.”

Magnus got a good hold on his end of the tree that was thoroughly jammed in the doorway. With both of them, it just took a moment of pushing and shoving to get the tree through the doorway. Magnus nearly toppled over, just catching himself, as they let the tree drop to the ground.

Magnus laughed, wiping his hands on his pants as he looked up to offer his hand to the other man, freezing with it halfway raised, eyes going wide. He’d recognize those hazel eyes anywhere. How hadn’t he recognized the voice? And, more importantly, what was Alec doing here, in his hallway?

***

Alec felt his mouth fall open and had to force himself to close it again, eyes wide, sweeping up and down Magnus as his heart raced. He hadn’t believed it at first, blinking, again and again, to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. He’d known Magnus still lived in the city, of course, maybe he even knew he lived in Brooklyn and he’d had the passing thought — hope — that maybe they’d run into each other again, but he’d thought it’d be with the others, knowing he still hung out with Isabelle and Clary. He’d thought he’d have warning. Isabelle kept dropping hints so he’d thought she’d end up arranging for them to be in the same place at the same time. He hadn’t expected to find him trying to one-handedly carry a Christmas tree bigger than himself up the stairs of Alec’s apartment building. He hadn’t expected him to have gotten so much more… _more_.

Alec didn’t have words for it. Eyes slowly traveling down and back up Magnus, trying to swallow a lump in his throat as his brain thoroughly short-circuited. He’d always been beautiful. Alec could remember vividly, seeing Magnus on his first day of NYU, his breath getting lodged in his throat as he watched Magnus laugh with his friends. He’d been beautiful then but now… Now he was… Alec was a writer but not even he had the words to describe the way Magnus’ tight black pants hugged his legs, the way the dark purple silk scarf he wore highlighted the glitter around his eyes. The way Magnus was so…Magnus. His hair was different than Alec remembered, shorter on the sides, taller on the top with a dark red streak. His bright brown eyes made Alec’s heart stumble about in his chest. Magnus had always been handsome of course; the most beautiful person Alec had ever seen but he’d filled out more since college. And maybe - maybe it wasn’t that he’d changed so much as he’d lived in Alec’s memories the last six years and the real thing was always bound to be better than the memories.

Alec closed his mouth, shaking his head slightly as he realized he’d just been staring. His cheeks flushed like he was still in high school when he realized Magnus was watching him, staring at him, just as intently, making Alec suddenly wish he hadn’t run down to check the mail in his sweats and a ratty black shirt he’d pulled out of one of the dozens of boxes currently serving as furniture in his apartment.

Magnus’ eyes trailed down and back up, over Alec’s arms, across his chest, before he suddenly blinked, shaking his head slightly to focus. Alec’s heart was lodged somewhere in his throat. He’d planned this, thought about this, he did every year he came back for the holidays, imagining running into Magnus again, what he’d say, what he’d do, knowing full well that it was his fault they lost touch. But every year, Magnus wasn’t in New York for the holidays or they just kept missing each other. And either way, Alec realized now, no amount of thinking about it, imagining it, planning it, would ever make a difference as he’d forgotten one key thing: he’d never been able to think clearly around Magnus. And it was even worse now, six years later.

“Alexander,” Magnus said, using Alec’s full name and making his heart kick up into third gear. And then he smiled, and Alec was eighteen years old, falling in love with that smile for the first time.

***

Magnus’ heart was racing in a not entirely unpleasant way. He felt a bit as if the world was shaking beneath him, leaving him slightly unbalanced. If he were honest, he’d been trying not to think about running into Alec. He’d known it was likely inevitable and he wanted to see Alec, he didn’t want to avoid him, but that was the problem. Magnus wanted to see Alec again a little too much. It was better to not think about it, not fantasize, not get his hopes up.

Their…friendship, had been a fragile thing. Constantly tittering from just friends, best friends, to possible something more. Both of them holding back from taking that leap. Too scared. Playing it too safe. It was the reason they lost touch, the reason they never ran into each other when Alec was in town for the holidays. After that first year, Magnus hadn’t been able to force himself to see Alec again, knowing he’d just fly back across the country a few days later. Knowing that that…thing, that indescribable thing that had always been between them, pushing and pulling, making their gazes linger, making something in Magnus ache to kiss the other man, was still there, no matter how far apart they were; no matter if Magnus was happy with someone else, the second he saw Alec, that pull towards him returned. He hadn’t wanted to torture himself with seeing Alec a few days a year.

Now. Alec was here. Alec lived here. And that was making it a little hard for Magnus to breathe, a little hard for him to speak.

“I-”

“Do you—”

They both froze, sharing slightly forced awkward smiles as Magnus’ heart leapt about in his chest. Magnus waved Alec on but he shook his head. “No, you go,” he said, giving Magnus that crooked smile that was so familiar to him even six years later.

Suddenly forgetting whatever it was he’d been about to say, Magnus’ gaze dropped briefly to the Christmas tree before returning to Alec’s hazel eyes that were intent on him. Breathing shallowly, Magnus finally managed a wry smile. “Long time no see.”

Alec’s eyes lit up when he laughed. Magnus had forgotten that. Forgotten what’s Alec’s laugh sounded like, restrained but happy. Magnus swallowed dryly.

“Yeah,” Alec said, nodding slowly, eyes sparking as they met Magnus’ again. “It has been.”

Magnus found himself caught just smiling at Alec from a few feet away. Questions and thoughts bounded around his head but he couldn’t seem to say any of them aloud, shoulders swaying back and forth as they watched each other as if making sure this was really happening, feeling out the situation.

The sound of someone clearing their throat snapped them out of it. Magnus jumped. Alec turned around. Mrs. H. from the apartment next to Magnus’ stood in the stairwell, glaring pointedly at the tree.

“Oh,” Magnus said, leaning down to grab the tree. “Sorry.”

Alec smiled sheepishly, helping Magnus grab the tree without a word. Mrs. H. watched with a pinched expression as they moved down the hallway, towards Magnus’ apartment.

“She’s was just starting to like me,” Magnus sighed.

***

Before Alec knew it, he somehow found himself in Magnus’ apartment. It as easy to see the second he stepped in that it was Magnus’. Not only because of the cat that went screeching off further into the apartment the second they stepped inside with the tree, but everything about it just screamed Magnus. From the lazily but carefully arranged furniture to the art on the walls, to the large book cases filled with books and knickknacks. Magnus’ walls were a dark paneled wood and the layout of his apartment was different than Alec’s, only one floor, the living area open to the kitchen and further back, behind a wall, was what Alec assumed was the bedroom.

There were lots of windows on the far wall, a sliding glass door led to a balcony. Everything was dark, muted shades. A couch and a few chairs, a tv and coffee table. A small dining table in the rather large kitchen.

“You can just leave that there,” Magnus said, sighing as he pulled off his gloves, gesturing to lean the tree against the wall just inside the apartment.

Once he’d set the tree down, Alec stood there awkwardly, unsure of himself for the first time in a long time.

“Thank you,” Magnus said, smiling a soft smile up at Alec, brown eyes flashing bright as he flipped the lights on in the apartment.

“Anytime.” Alec stared at the tree, trying to think of something to say. Words fell out before he’d thought them through. “Isn’t it a little early to get a tree?”

Magnus groaned, letting his head fall back dramatically. Alec bit his lip on a smile. “Please tell me you grew out of your Grinch phase?” Magnus asked, opening his eyes enough to peek at Alec.

Alec shrugged helplessly. “I wouldn’t say it’s a Grinch phase,” Alec said, a teasing edge to his voice. “I don’t hate Christmas, I just…don’t get the big deal.”

Magnus shook his head sadly. “You depress me. And it’s never too early to get a tree, I’ll have you know. As long as you know how to take care of it properly.”

Alec nodded, biting his lip on a grin as the strange tension dissolved around them and it was suddenly like they’d never spent a day apart. In a lot of ways, Magnus had been the first person Alec learned to be himself around. Something about him, even when Alec was eighteen years old and floundering about trying to figure out who he was and what he wanted, had always made Alec feel comfortable in his own skin.

“So…” Magnus said.

“So,” Alec repeated, raising his eyebrows.

“Moved back to the city?”

Alec nodded.

“This apartment building?”

Alec nodded again, trying not to laugh. He didn’t know why he felt like laughing but he just felt…happy, for some strange reason.

“Isabelle did not mention that,” Magnus said before sighing and rolling his eyes.

“She didn’t tell me you lived here either,” Alec said quickly. Had he known, well, at the very least he would’ve dressed better before leaving his apartment.

“So, are you coming tonight?” Magnus asked as the awkwardness began to settle around them once again.

“Coming?” Alec frowned.

“To the diner?”

“Ooh, yeah. Izzy mentioned something about that but I was just going to…”

“Stay in and write?” Magnus smirked.

Alec nodded, forcing himself not to blush.

“You should come,” Magnus said, eyes shining. “If your writing isn’t too pressing.”

Alec swallowed dryly. He’d forgotten how easy it was to get lost in Magnus’ eyes. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Magnus smiled. “We can head over together. If you want?”

Alec barely hesitated. He was stuck on a scene anyway and besides, he suddenly couldn’t bring himself to turn down the offer to spend more time with Magnus. And Isabelle and the others, of course.

“Okay,” Alec finally said. “Just let me go get changed.”

Magnus beamed. Alec’s heart fluttered. “I’ll be here, waiting.”

Alec smiled, feeling slightly dazed as he turned to go across the hall to his apartment. He shut the door behind him, leaning back against it and breathing out slowly. Of course, Isabelle had found him the perfect apartment… That just happened to be across the hall from the man Alec had spent four years (who was he kidding, there was also at least a year he spent in Seattle, still pining) crushing on.

He was so screwed.


	2. Reconnecting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus and Alec reconnect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the lovely comments this fic has already gotten, I truly appreciate everyone's excitement for this fic! <3<3<3

“I’m just saying, when the third book came out, you’re lucky you weren’t living here, I was ready to kill you after that ending.”

Alec chuckled, shaking his head at Magnus’ antics as they approached the diner in the cold New York night. “I can’t believe you’ve read my books,” Alec said, tilting his head back and breathing in deep. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed New York until he got back. It’d only taken a few days to get reacquainted with his hometown and now he couldn’t quite remember why he’d ever left in the first place.

Magnus rolled his eyes, bumping their shoulders together casually as they walked. “Of course, I read them,” he said. “I admit, I was a little worried the first was going to suck —”

Alec laughed as Magnus came to a stop turning to face him. “I mean, how awkward would that have been? I wouldn’t be able to look you in the eyes right now. I’d have to avoid you so you’d never find out I hated your writing. But I _didn’t,_ ” he insisted, eyes shining brightly under the street light, shoulders swaying slightly. “That’s why I read the other two.”

Alec swallowed, clearing his throat. He glanced to the side away from Magnus’ smirk, they were just outside the small diner, he could see Isabelle and Jace at a booth in the far corner, staring at Simon like he was crazy. He’d underestimated what it’d feel like, seeing Magnus again. Every look they shared had his heart racing faster in the best possible way.

When he turned back, Magnus was still smiling up at him. Alec’s heart did a weird skipping thing that he told himself was nothing but a remnant of the past. It was just…good to see Magnus again. Really good. Even better than he’d thought it would be the few times he’d allowed himself to imagine it.

“Well,” Alec finally said. “I’m glad you didn’t hate it.”

Magnus smirked, stepping past Alec to open the door to the diner. “Me too.”

A cheer went up from the back corner booth, freezing Alec as he stepped inside. He glanced up, seeing Isabelle, Jace, Clary, and Simon all turning to face them, grinning widely and waving.

“Our long lost brother,” Jace called. “It's been years since we've seen you!”

Alec snorted, calling back, “I saw you last night.” He started toward them when Isabelle shouted at him to stop.

“Mistletoe,” she said, pointing.

The door jingled as it shut, leaving Alec and Magnus crowded at the doorway. Alec glanced up and, sure enough, a small bundle of mistletoe hung above them. He swallowed dryly, rolling his eyes as he looked back to Isabelle across the room, avoiding looking at Magnus.

“Get on with it,” Jace hollered, smirking at Alec.

“It’s the rules,” Isabelle added, nodding wisely.

Alec glanced at Magnus who was staring up at the mistletoe. Magnus looked to the table in the back, glaring at them for a moment, something Alec couldn’t read passing between him and Isabelle, before laughing. Reaching up, Magnus grabbed the mistletoe from where it hung over the door, crossing the diner and throwing it at Isabelle before sitting.

Alec followed, frowning. The other’s booed, disappointed. And okay, part of Alec was a little disappointed as well that Magnus hadn’t taken the bait. Only a little. Which was stupid. They hadn’t seen each other in six years. And Alec was over his crush on Magnus Bane. Very far over it. He’d been young, and Magnus was… Magnus. But it was just a crush and Alec was over it. Over it.

As he sat down across from Magnus, accepting a hug from Clary and a fist bump with Simon, it occurred to Alec suddenly that he didn’t even know if Magnus was single. Throat suddenly dry, he swallowed, pulling his gaze from Magnus who was talking animatedly, using his hands as he told the story of his Christmas tree adventure. Alec caught Isabelle’s eyes, rolling his at her knowing look. He was not crushing on Magnus anymore, he reminded himself, smiling at the other man. Not even a little bit.

***

Magnus kept finding himself staring at Alec and had to repeatedly force his gaze away, glaring at Clary’s knowing looks as they ate and talked. Drinking eggnog and hot chocolate that Alec rolled his eyes at.

“Isn’t it a little early for…all of this?” Alec asked, waving his hand at the glasses of eggnog and the holiday decorations filling the diner.

Magnus rolled his eyes. “Maybe for a Grinch,” he teased.

“I forgot Alec’s a Grinch,” Clary said, shaking her head sadly.

“Alas, everyone has their flaws,” Magnus sighed, telling himself he did not feel a wave of warmth as he caught Alec’s eye, Alec smiling crookedly at him. Nope. He didn’t feel anything at all.

“Speaking of Christmas,” Isabelle said, turning her gaze to Magnus. “When’s the ugly sweater party?”

Magnus opened his mouth to reply but was distracted by Alec’s sudden groan. Looking across the table he found Alec with his head tilted back, rolling his eyes at the ceiling. Despite himself, Magnus felt a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“You still do that?” Alec asked.

Isabelle reached over, smacking him lightly on the arm. “Of course.”

Magnus nodded, smirking. “Yes. It’s a tradition. And you’re coming,” he added on impulse. Magnus had been throwing their annual ugly sweater party since his first year of college. It was tacky and lame and Magnus loved everything about it. Especially, he suddenly remembered, how adorable Alec looked in a hideous Christmas sweater. Back in college, Magnus had to buy a sweater for Alec to force him to come with, it’d been worth it for the pictures he still had of Alec glaring at him in a red and green plaid sweater that was complete with Rudolph on the front, including a bright red nose that lit up perfectly.

Magnus fought a shiver as their eyes met, Alec raising an eyebrow, a smile teasing the corner of his mouth. “Oh,” he said. “Am I?”

Magnus nodded, smirking. “Yup.”

Alec fought a smile, shaking his head slowly. Something in Magnus’ gut fluttered as they stared at each other. Alec’s hazel eyes were dark, hair falling in his face. He’d grown even prettier, Magnus thought, eyes dropping to Alec’s lips for a moment, lingering on the five o’clock shadow along his jaw. So unfair, he thought, sighing internally as he glanced back into Alec’s eyes before finally looking away. The others had been watching them, Isabelle and Clary with knowing smirks, Jace with a scowl, and Simon with a wide grin.

Magnus cleared his throat. “So. Dessert?”

***

Alec didn’t know how long they spent at the diner. Slowly, the others left until it was just him and Magnus, sitting across from each other, sharing a piece of pie and drinking coffee. Magnus still drank his with cream and two sugars, Alec noted with a wince. Magnus caught the look and rolled his eyes. “Don’t be a coffee snob,” he snorted. “Do you even actually like plain black coffee or does it just fit with your brooding writer aesthetic?”

Alec laughed, holding his hands up in surrender. “I didn’t say anything.”

“But you thought it,” Magnus accused.

Alec shrugged but didn’t deny it. He wasn’t entirely sure where to go from here, now that it was just the two of them. It’d been six years. They’d barely talked. Alec had been the one to stop replying to texts, stop answering calls. After graduation… He’d kicked himself for months for wasting four years, never telling Magnus how he felt, always dancing around whatever it was that hung between them. He’d been so concerned with hiding his feelings, getting over them, that he’d accidentally lost one of his best friends along the way.

Six years was a lot to catch up on.

Luckily, Magnus made it easy, launching straight into things. “I wasn’t surprised you know,” he started.

Alec sat up, heart sinking. Was he talking about Alec ignoring him for the last six years? Did he know how Alec had felt back then? Alec swallowed dryly, raising an eyebrow in question.

Magnus smiled softly. “When your book got published,” he explained. “Though, I was a little hurt that I never got a signed copy,” he sighed.

Alec swallowed again, staring down at his coffee before meeting Magnus’ gaze again. “I could fix that,” he said.

Magnus grinned. “You better.”

God, Alec thought. He was pathetic. A few hours in Magnus’ company and his crush was back in full force. Of course, it was. Had it ever gone away? Alec wondered as they easily slid into conversation, covering the last six years like they’d never been apart at all. Hadn’t there always been a part of Alec though, that wondered what would’ve happened if he’d stayed? If they hadn’t been interrupted on graduation night? That wondered what would happen, if they were ever in the same place at the same time once again?

The question tugged at Alec all night, but he didn’t know how to ask it as they talked and laughed. He fought not to flush every time he was caught staring at Magnus, heart skipping every time he caught Magnus doing the same. It was like college all over again, dancing around each other. Saying everything but the one thing they wanted to say. Until Magnus finally took the plunge.

“So,” Magnus said softly, late into the night.

Alec swallowed. “So…”

It was late, no one else was in the diner that was open all night. Even the waitress had gone into the kitchen leaving them completely alone. Magnus’ eyes flashed a bright copper color as he fought off a smirk. Alec’s heart was racing stupidly.

“Did you leave anyone behind, in Seattle?” Magnus finally asked, raising an eyebrow in challenge.

Alec had been expecting the question, but he still stuttered over the answer. “I-I. What? No. No,” he repeated, shaking his head.

Magnus grinned. Alec forgot to breathe. It took him a minute to realize now was the time for him to ask. “And you?” he stuttered. “Do you…”

Magnus shook his head slowly. “Nope.”

Alec cleared his throat, nodding. “That’s-that’s good.” He winced shaking his head as Magnus arched an eyebrow giving him an amused look. “I mean— that’s —”

“Alec?”

“Yeah?”

“Want to go for a walk, before heading back?”

Alec swallowed, nodding. “Sounds like fun.”

***

Magnus woke the next morning, smiling at the memory of the night before. Alec lived across the hall. Alec had spent half the night talking idly with Magnus. And that thing, that link between them that made Magnus’ heart race, that had made it impossible to forget about Alec for the last six years, was still there, hanging between them. Did Alec feel it too? Were Isabelle and Clary right, had Alec felt the same, back in college?

There was a moment, the night before, walking through the city, their hands brushing but not quite fully touching as they caught up on the last six years, a moment where Magnus had thought that maybe Alec had felt it back then. Maybe the dance they’d been doing in college was real. Maybe now, it could become something more.

And then, in the hallway, there’d been a moment where they just stared at each other, a sort of tension in the air, a feeling to the night like anything could happen. They just stood there, watching each other, feeling each other out. Nothing had happened but still, it felt like something indescribable had all the same.

Magnus found himself grinning as he climbed from bed, humming to himself as he made breakfast and pulled out his Christmas decorations. He was hanging the wreath on his door when the apartment across the hall opened and Alec stepped out, dressed in his leather jacket that Magnus was sure was the same one he’d had back in college, jeans, and a white tshirt. Magnus glanced over his shoulder, eyes running up and down as Alec locked his door. Turning, their eyes locked, a small smile bursting across Alec’s face that Magnus easily matched, heart skipping.

“Decorating?” Alec asked, turning his back to his door. “I’m surprised.”

Magnus raised his eyebrow.

“I would’ve thought you’d finish decorating before Thanksgiving,” Alec teased. “Maybe Halloween.”

Magnus glared before frowning as he turned back to straighten the wreath. “I am a little behind,” he admitted.

Alec chuckled. “I was joking.”

“I know,” Magnus sighed. “I wasn’t.”

Alec shook his head. He crossed the hall, tugging on the end of the Santa hat Magnus was currently wearing, making Magnus’ breath hitch. “Have fun, Santa,” he said, smiling down at Magnus.

Magnus glared. “And what are you doing today? Going to go steal presents from children, Scrooge?”

Alec snorted. He stood close enough that Magnus could feel his breath on his face. “Sadly, no. I’m going to go find a nearby coffee shop and write for a bit. Then it’s dinner at castle Lightwood.”

Magnus pouted. “You have my sympathy.”

“Thanks.” Alec tugged on Magnus’ hat again, eyes shining, before turning away.

Magnus watched him until he got to the elevator, finding himself grinning still as he stepped back into his apartment, heart racing.

***

“You should really have a housewarming party. It’s the perfect timing, Alec. What with the holidays. It’s the classy thing to do,” Maryse said as the Lightwoods all sat down to dinner.

Alec sighed, regretting ever mentioning that his writer friends had suggested he have a housewarming party once he got settled in.

“I agree,” Isabelle said suddenly.

Alec turned, glaring at her, feeling betrayed.

Isabelle shrugged. “It will be fun,” she said. “Who doesn’t love a Christmas party? And you can show off your apartment. Actually act friendly.”

“I’m friendly,” Alec said defensively.

Isabelle smiled sadly. “To people you’ve done little more than text and email and talk to on the phone for years but now you live in the same city as them. It’s nice to make a little effort.”

Alec rolled his eyes, turning to Jace and Max for help.

Max smirked. “I love Christmas parties.”

Jace agreed. “Especially if there’s spiked eggnog.”

Alec sighed. “I don’t have time to plan a Christmas housewarming party. I’m on deadline.”

“You’re forgetting, dear brother,” Isabelle beamed. “You know a party planner.”

Alec frowned. “I’m sure he’s too busy for that. Besides, I don’t even have furniture yet.”

“For you? He’ll find time. And he’s good at decorating too. I’m sure he can help you go shopping for furniture.”

Alec sighed, shaking his head before giving in. “Fine. I’ll have a party,” he said and not only because of the prospect of using it as an excuse to spend time with Magnus.

“Just make sure to do it before the twenty-fourth,” Maryse said, smiling happily. Alec was a little caught off guard by the smile but his mother had been much happier since the divorce last year. She’d even flown to Seattle to apologize to Alec for ever making him feel like he needed to move so far away to escape their expectations. It was part of the reason he’d finally decided to move back. “Speaking of, are you bringing a date to the Christmas party?”

Alec’s eyes went wide. He glanced at Isabelle who smirked. He didn’t have a date but he knew that tone of voice of their mother’s, knew that twinkle in her eye. She was planning something. Meaning it was likely every eligible male in the city who was interested in men would be at the Lightwood Christmas party, ready to meet Alec.

“I — yes,” Alec said.

Maryse looked up, raising an eyebrow. “Really? Have you met someone in the city already?”

“Yes?” Alec said, glancing sideways at Isabelle who shrugged helplessly. “Yes,” he repeated, more surely.

“Who?” Maryse questioned, eyes narrowing.

“I — my. My neighbor,” Alec said, mind blank, words falling from his mouth without thought. “We. We knew each other in college,” he explained, swallowing dryly.

Isabelle was now grinning, a giddy look in her eyes while Jace smirked.

“Oh. How…nice. I can’t wait to meet him,” Maryse said.

“Yeah,” Alec said, barely loud enough to hear. “Same,” he muttered. Fuck.

***

Monday night, Catarina, Ragnor, and Raphael all came over to decorate Magnus’ tree, eat curry, and enjoy some Christmas cheer in the form of Raphael’s secret family recipe of spiked eggnog. It was something they’d been doing since college, they all had their own special ornaments in the collection, ones from all over the world, and every year they bought each other a new one for Christmas. It was one of Magnus’ favorite parts of the holiday season.

“What am I going to do?” Magnus groaned, pouring himself a large glass of eggnog.

“Why’d you tell her you were seeing someone?” Catarina asked, sounding the opposite of understanding.

“I panicked,” Magnus all but shouted, throwing his free hand up. He took a deep drink before turning to the dining table where the ornaments were waiting. He picked up a small golden angel, turning to the tree that sat before the windows, carefully picking out the perfect place for the ornament. The tree was already lit with pale white lights, red ribbons tied around various branches.

“I wasn’t expecting Camille to show up, usually someone else comes to arrange their company party,” Magnus sighed. He’d run into his ex — whom he despised after finding out she’d cheated on him throughout their whole nine-month relationship — at his small office downtown when she’d come to discuss the details of her company Christmas party. Magnus had been planning the large fashion magazine’s company party for the last three years. It was what had gotten his own business off the ground. He hadn’t seen Camille since last year’s party where he’d nearly tossed his eggnog in her face. When she’d asked in her snobbish voice if he was seeing anyone, he’d panicked, and the words had just fallen out.

“What am I going to do?” Magnus asked again, watching Raphael hang an amusing santa vampire ornament. “I can’t show up to the Christmas party without a date. Really, I need a date for all the parties. How did I neglect that? I’ve never gone alone before. What kind of party planner can’t even get a date for their parties?”

“One of us can go with you,” Catarina suggested.

Magnus sighed. “Thanks, but what about Camille’s party? She’s not going to believe I’m dating any of you. No offense.”

“I’d be offended if you thought one of us would fake date you,” Raphael intoned, straightening the bows Magnus had put on the tree until they were perfect.

“Why did I say I’m seeing someone?” Magnus groaned, flopping down on the couch.

Ragnor stared at him. “You know I love you, but you’re pathetic, my friend.”

Magnus glared, flipping him off.

“Where am I going to find a date? I can’t go alone!” Magnus wailed aware that he was being a little more dramatic than necessary but not really caring.

“So don’t go alone. Find a date,” Cat shrugged, hanging an ornament of a cat wearing a Santa hat.

“Like it’s that easy,” Magnus sighed.

“You’re Magnus Bane,” Ragnor sighed. “It is that easy.”

Magnus shrugged, he had a point. “But it can’t be just anyone. It’s not just a date, they have to actually seem interested and act like a significant other I’ve been with for at least a month.”

“Easy enough,” Catarina shrugged.

Magnus sat up, eyebrow raised. “Are you hiding a beautiful stranger willing to fake date me somewhere, Cat?” he smirked.

“No,” Cat shook her head. “But it can’t be hard to find one.”

Magnus fell back on the couch, sighing before forcing himself to stand and return to the tree where the Chairman was lurking about with mischief in his eyes. Magnus picked up a blown glass hummingbird, hanging it carefully on the tree. “I don’t really think it’s as easy to find a fake significant other as the movies make it seem,” he said, flicking the bird so it spun, catching the firelight.

“What about what’s his name?” Ragnor asked, pointing towards the door. “The one you were in love with.”

Magnus nearly choked on his eggnog. “Alec?” he coughed. “I wasn’t in love with him. And that’s—”

“Perfect,” Catarina interrupted, nodding slowly, eyes lost in thought. “It could work.”

“What?” Magnus demanded. “No. That’s crazy. Why would he—”

“Because you spent four years pining over each other and you might have been something, had you not gone your separate ways?” Cat interrupted, shutting Magnus up. “Remember graduation night?”

Magnus closed his eyes, breathing slowly in before exhaling all the breath in his lungs. Behind his eyes, he saw Alec sitting on the bed next to him, leaning close, their mouths inches apart before finally touching.

Raphael shivered. Magnus opened his eyes to see him scowling. “Vividly,” Raphael glowered.

Magnus shoved him. “No one asked you to barge in on us that night,” he said, his own scowl taking over his face.

“Sorry I was trying to make sure you hadn’t been killed or passed out drunk somewhere,” Raphael glared.

Magnus sighed. It was just as well. He’d always been equal parts irritated at the universe for interrupting that night and thankful to Raphael for it. It only would’ve complicated things. Still, could he ask Alec to be his date to Camille’s party? It didn’t have to be a big deal, did it? It was just one night…

Magnus changed the subject then, going back to decorating the tree. But his mind reminded focused on the apartment across the hall the rest of the night. With the memory of graduation night fresh in his mind, he began to wonder if this could be it. Their second chance to see what might be there, between them… if only one of them would take the leap to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Don't forget to let me know your thoughts in the comments below! You can also yell at me on [Tumblr @imawriteriwrite](http://imawriteriwrite.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> Next chapter: Malec makes an arrangement.


	3. A Proposition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus and Alec make an arrangement.

Magnus came home from work one night, bag filled with a million things he needed to go over while likely eating takeout – December was always a busy month for him, filled with half a dozen Christmas parties swiftly followed by new year’s parties, but he thrived when busy – he was so distracted with his own thoughts that he almost didn’t notice Alec’s open door at first. He stopped in front of his own apartment, pulling out his keys when he heard Alec cursing loudly somewhere behind him. Turning, he found the depressingly wreathless door to Alec’s apartment wide open.

Setting his bag down outside his apartment, Magnus turned, crossing the hall. He knocked lightly on Alec’s open door, peering inside. Alec continued cursing so Magnus stepped in, quickly taking in the apartment that was… very empty. Save a partition in the corner behind which Alec’s voice came, and dozens of boxes haphazardly placed.

Magnus was about to call out when Alec cursed again before shouting in victory. A moment later, he appeared from behind the partition, a small bundle of fur in his arms.

Alec glanced up, eyes landing on Magnus, a smile forming immediately. “Magnus, what are you—”

“Is that a cat?” Magnus interrupted, eyes dropping to what Alec held in his arms. The cat squirmed, hissing as it attempted to bite and claw Alec. It wasn’t much more than a large ball of gray fluff from what Magnus could see.

“Uh. Yeah?” Alec said, wincing as the cat bit him again. “It’s my agents’,” he explained holding the cat closer to his face which Magnus thought might not be the best idea. “I’m watching him while she’s out of town.”

Magnus raised an eyebrow. “He doesn’t seem happy about this arrangement.”

As if he heard them, the cat struck, swiping out at Alec’s face. It missed but Alec jerked back, letting go of it. The cat landed on its feet, taking off toward Magnus with a hiss. Magnus closed the door quickly, lest it try to escape. Its bright yellow eyes glared at him. The cat hissed again, rushing up the stairs. A moment later, there was a loud crash from the second floor.

Alec sighed.

Magnus raised his eyebrow.

Alec waved it away. “Church has been doing that since he got here. I only just managed to get him off my laptop. I think he was trying to take it hostage,” Alec explained, running a hand through his hair.

Magnus winced, seeing the bright red scratches on the back of Alec’s hand. “Was it a bloody battle?” he asked, stepping around a stack of boxes to take Alec’s hand, examining the cuts.

“Apparently,” Alec said stiffly.

Magnus looked up, quickly dropping Alec’s hand. Meeting Alec’s bright hazel eyes, he looked away quickly, clearing his throat. “Well, I was just checking to see what all the shouting was. It sounded like you were being mauled by a beast.”

Alec laughed, breaking the sudden tension between them. “I was,” he snorted. “Thanks for checking on me.”

“What are neighbors for?” Magnus smirked, glancing into Alec’s eyes before looking away again. “I see you’re settling in well,” he teased, letting his eyes wander about the room.

Alec flushed slightly, rubbing the back of his head. “Yeah, I haven’t really gotten around to doing much. I do have coffee though; would you like a cup?”

Magnus glanced back at him, the slightly unsure look on Alec’s face making his heart skip. He briefly thought of the work waiting for him in his apartment and his own cat waiting for him to get home, before nodding. “Sure.”

Alec smiled all wide-eyed and beautiful, slipping past Magnus and around the various boxes to the kitchen. Magnus followed, looking around once again.

“Haven’t gotten around to getting a Christmas tree yet?” he said, ignoring the fact that there was no furniture in the apartment.

Alec glanced over his shoulder, laughing. “No,” he said, then he shrugged. “I don’t usually get a tree.”

“Really?” Magnus asked. He’d mostly been joking about Alec’s status as a Scrooge. He knew Alec didn’t love Christmas the way he did but who didn’t get a tree?

Alec shrugged, pulling two coffee mugs out of a cabinet that held little more than a few more mugs. “I usually fly back here for Christmas,” he explained. “It always seemed pointless to do anything. Plus, I mean, it’s just Christmas.”

Magnus gasped, only partially to be dramatic. “Just…Christmas?” he repeated. “How is it possible you’re even more of a Scrooge than you used to be?” he demanded.

Alec laughed, shrugging helplessly. “I’ve always been a Scrooge, as you say. You just refused to see it.”

Magnus inclined his head, that was entirely possible.

Magnus leaned against the counter, shaking his head sadly. “You must lead such a sad, Christmas-less life. Have you even done your shopping yet?”

Alec glanced back, eyes comically wide, making fun of Magnus. “No,” he gasped.

Magnus shook his head. “So sad,” he sighed before accepting the cup Alec slid to him with a small smile. “Thank you.”

Alec smiled back, leaning on the counter across from him. Magnus allowed himself to stare for a minute, running his eyes up and down Alec who was dressed in loose sweats and a tight black shirt. Magnus swallowed, looking away and taking a drink of his coffee.

“That excuses the tree,” he said slowly. “But is there something you have against furniture these days?”

Alec laughed, shaking his head. “No. I just…haven’t gotten around to going furniture shopping.”

“Mmhmm. Okay. Fair enough,” Magnus said. “Just one thing?”

Alec raised an eyebrow.

“You’re a writer… Where do you write if you don’t even have a desk?”

Alec glanced around like this had only just occurred to him, shrugging. “I can write in bed or sit on the floor. I’ve also been spending a lot of time at the coffee shop down the street.”

“Working on your writer aesthetic. I get it,” Magnus teased.

Alec shook his head, falling silent, eyes locked with Magnus’. Once more, Magnus was vividly aware of this…whatever it was between them. Tension? The same one that had been there when they were in college. Lingering between them, making them both overly aware of the other. Magnus found himself smiling slightly, staring back at Alec, his heart hammering away in his chest.

“I,” Alec started a few minutes later, letting his gaze drop for a moment. “Actually, there was something I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Oh?” Magnus asked, staring down at his coffee. “Do continue.”

“It’s actually about your job.”

“Oh?” Magnus said, slightly surprised but mostly intrigued.

“Yeah,” Alec continued looking up to meet Magnus’ eyes again. “I’m sure you’re busy this month so feel free to say no,” he started.

Magnus arched an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue.

“Are you…booked for the month?”

Magnus shrugged, eyes shining. “Depends,” he smirked. “I always have room for one more Christmas party. Even if it is for a Scrooge.”

Alec laughed, shaking his head. “It’s just… Everyone seems to think I should throw a housewarming/Christmas party and I…have no idea how to throw a party,” he admitted.

Magnus hummed thoughtfully, tilting his head to side. “I guess it’s a good thing you know a party planner then,” he said, winking when Alec looked up at him with a hesitant smile.

“But look, really, if you don’t have time it’s not a big deal,” Alec was quick to add.

Magnus shrugged, twirling his mug around on the counter. “I have time,” he said, then smirked. “The only thing is… I do this favor for you, what do I get in return?”

Alec narrowed his eyes, looking at Magnus closely. “Paid?” he offered.

Magnus snorted, waving his hand. “Obviously but, beyond a business deal, this is a favor.”

“So,” Alec said. “I’ll owe you a favor?”

Magnus smirked. “Exactly.”

Alec considered it for a moment, hazel eyes dark as they looked into Magnus’. Finally, he smiled. “Sounds fair. But only if you’re sure you have time.”

Magnus nodded, smiling without realizing he was doing it. “I love Christmas,” he shrugged. “I love planning Christmas parties. Besides, if it’s a housewarming it’s what? Twenty, thirty guests at most?”

“Probably closer to twenty,” Alec nodded.

Magnus shrugged. “It’s a small apartment, won’t take long to decorate. It’ll be easy enough,” he assured Alec. “Besides, what are friends for?”

“So…we’re friends?” Alec asked, eyes wide and innocent like he had no idea what they were. Truthfully, neither did Magnus but he nodded anyway.

“Now, I’m assuming you don’t have the means to cook, currently. So, want to join me at the diner?” Magnus offered before he could talk himself out of it.

Alec hesitated only a moment before nodding. “Just let me check on the demon cat real quick,” he said, smiling a soft smile that had Magnus’ heart skipping. It was only as Alec disappeared upstairs that Magnus realized the real reason he’d agreed to planning Alec’s party and it wasn’t to be a good friend. It was to take advantage of any opportunity he got to spend time with Alec.

Magnus sighed, finishing his coffee. He was so screwed.

***

“You know you’re going to have to furnish your place before you can have a party, right?” Magnus asked as they slid into the booth at the small diner.

Alec quirked his lips up in a half smile, nodding. “I figured.”

“And a Christmas party implies there will be…” Magnus leaned in close across the table, lowering his voice. Alec bit his lip on a smile. “Christmas decorations,” Magnus whispered.

Alec shook his head, rolling his eyes. “I realize that, yes.”

Magnus sat back, shrugging, but a smile was playing across his lips as he looked down at his menu. “Just checking.”

Alec turned to his own menu, trying to control his smile. He’d only been back in New York for a little over two weeks, only seen Magnus three times and yet… And yet, Alec thought, stealing looks at him over his menu, it was like he’d never left at all. Magnus was still the same amazing, smart, funny, beautiful person he was back in college and Alec was still the same awkward writer – though he liked to think he’d gotten a little less awkward over the last six years, maybe even a little…smooth? When it came to flirting and the like. He thought, at the very least, he’d gotten better at hiding his feelings for Magnus. He wasn’t ready to ask Magnus out on a date by any means, wasn’t even sure that would be a good idea, he was just…enjoying getting to know Magnus again. Feeling it out. He was excited to see what might happen, even if it was realizing that his crush in college had been nothing but a crush and this now was nothing but nostalgia; a trip down memory lane. Though part of him — a big part — really hoped that wasn’t the case.

After they ordered, while waiting for their food, Magnus pulled out his phone, talking a mile a minute to Alec about ideas for the party. Alec was a little overwhelmed with everything as Magnus laid out half a dozen options, his eyes getting wider and wider the whole time. Magnus noticed this eventually, trailing off halfway through an idea involving the twelve days of Christmas.

“Are you okay?” he asked, eyes shining brightly as he set his phone that he’d been typing away on, down.

Alec swallowed and nodded.

“You look a little…scared,” Magnus said, smiling softly. “Too much?”

“Maybe a little,” Alec said slowly. He hadn’t really thought through this party thing, he’d thought it would be something…simple. Just a couple dozen people. Some basic Christmas decorations.

Like he could read Alec’s mind, Magnus grabbed his phone again, where he was taking notes, deleting everything he’d written so far. “How about something…simple,” he said, already typing again. “But classy. A big tree, some garland, a few well placed, classy decorations. All red and green and gold. We can do finger foods, Christmas cookies. A relaxed atmosphere. Maybe an ice sculpture?”

Alec smiled gratefully before quirking an eyebrow. “An ice sculpture?” he teased.

Magnus glanced up, sighing. “You’re killing me Lightwood.”

“A basic Christmas party kills you, but an ugly sweater party doesn’t?”

Magnus pouted, holding his hand up, a small amount of space between his thumb and forefinger. “A small ice sculpture? Something classy like Santa or a reindeer.”

“A snowman?” Alec suggested, smirking.

Magnus rolled his eyes. “You can’t make a snowman out of ice, Alexander, that would make no sense.”

Alec’s heart did this weird fluttering thing at the sound of his full name from Magnus, he felt his eyes widened a bit and looked down at his hands on the table. “I suppose you’re right.”

“Always,” Magnus smirked, slipping his phone away as their food was delivered.

“Fine,” Alec conceded, looking up from his burger to Magnus’ bright brown eyes. “But no Santa. Do a reindeer.”

Magnus beamed. “I knew you’d see it my way.” Reaching out, he stole one of Alec’s fries, smirking when Alec tried and missed smacking his hand away.

“Suddenly I’m having flashbacks,” Alec sighed, picking up his burger.

Magnus snorted, starting in on his pancakes which he’d ordered even though it was seven o’clock at night. “It’s so much more fun to steal your fries,” he said.

“That’s what you always say before you eat half my fries and leave me wasting away to nothing.”

Magnus looked up, eyebrow raised as his eyes slowly roamed up and down Alec. “Yeah. Nothing, alright,” he said, voice dropping low, eyes narrowed and serious.

Alec felt himself blushing and cleared his throat. He couldn’t think of anything to say so he slid his plate closer to Magnus, looking up just in time to catch him smiling, reaching out and stealing another fry.

“Well, well, well. Look who it is.”

Alec’s eyes were pulled to the door. He smirked as he saw Maia come in, followed by Clary and Simon. “Long time, no see, Lightwood,” Maia smirked, heading straight for their table.

“Too long,” Alec said, standing and giving her a hug before letting her slide into the booth as Clary and Simon climbed over from the booth behind theirs to sit next to Magnus.

“I know why you left the rift raft but, really, Lightwood? I thought we bonded that year we spent busting tables together?” Maia sighed, sitting and stealing a fry from Alec’s plate.

“I’m sorry,” Alec said. “How will you ever forgive me?” he asked, allowing her to steal his food, smacking Simon’s hand away when he tried to do the same.

“Rude,” Simon pouted.

“This is a good start,” Maia said, starting in on his burger.

Alec shook his head, sharing a look with Magnus who smirked at him, happily eating his pancakes.

“What are you two doing here?” Clary asked knowingly.

Alec frowned. “Getting dinner?”

“Together?” Clary teased, eyebrows dancing.

Alec glanced at Magnus again who was looking at Clary like she was crazy.

“Ow,” Alec said as someone kicked him under the table.

Magnus’ eyes went wide. “Oops. Wrong person,” he said. Clary flinched suddenly. Alec watched them with raised eyebrows, feeling like he was missing something.

“So, Magnus,” Maia said suddenly. “I heard you need a fake date.”

Alec glanced at Maia sharply before turning back to Magnus, frowning. Magnus glared at Maia before his expression turned casual. He shrugged. “I’m in the process of looking for a fake date to take to a Christmas party, yes,” he said stiffly.

“Really?” Alec asked. “Why?”

Magnus sighed, setting his fork down and taking a drink of his coffee. He waved it away. “It’s nothing really,” he said.

“Magnus told his evil ex-girlfriend that he was seeing someone because she’s an evil bitch and he wants to show her he’s not pining over her—”

“Which he’s not,” Clary interrupted Maia’s explanation, staring intently at Alec. “They broke up over a year ago and he hates her guts. Regrets every second he spent with her.”

Alec raised an eyebrow, looking at Magnus who was glaring at his friends but nodded when he caught Alec’s gaze.

“Anyway,” Maia continued, having already devoured half of Alec’s burger. “Magnus told her he’s seeing someone, and he plans her company Christmas party every year — she works for a big fashion magazine, one of Magnus’ biggest clients. So, obviously, since he’s _not_ seeing anyone, he needs someone to pretend to be his boyfriend - or girlfriend or whatever - for the Christmas party. Right, Magnus?”

Magnus rolled his eyes. “Yes, that about sums it up. Thank you.”

Alec’s mind was spinning, pieces falling together in quick order. He was talking before he’d even stopped to think, “I could do it.”

Silence fell suddenly over the table. Clary and Maia shared a look. Simon’s mouth fell open as he stole Magnus’ plate of pancakes. But Alec was busy gauging Magnus’ reaction. His head snapped up at Alec’s words, eyes wide. “You don’t have to do that,” he said quickly.

Alec shrugged. “I know,” he said, swallowing dryly. “But… I owe you anyway, right? For planning my party.”

Magnus hesitated. “I suppose that’s true,” he said slowly.

Alec was beginning to panic. What if Magnus didn’t want him to be his fake boyfriend? Was it too weird? Too much? “I mean, unless you want something else for - for what I owe you.”

Magnus seemed to snap out of his thoughts, eyes flashing bright before he shook his head. “No. No. I mean… Really? You would do that for me?”

Alec shrugged, forcing himself not to look away. “I mean…” he started slowly. “It makes sense, right? We know each other - or knew each other anyway. We can get to re-know each other. And so, it will be easy to convince someone, right? Plus, it’s not just for you.”

“No?”

“No,” Alec said, shaking his head slowly, eyes locked with Magnus’, briefly forgetting that anyone else was there. “I might have accidentally let it slip to my mom that I’m seeing someone to avoid her attempts to set me up with every available bachelor in the city.”

“See,” Clary interrupted. “This is perfect!”

Alec raised his eyebrow at Magnus in question, barely aware of the fact that he was holding his breath.

“Yeah,” Magnus agreed slowly, eyes shining with amusement. “Perfect.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Everyone's comments the last two days have fueled my writing, thank you for your support! Remember, comments and kudos are life! Please let me know what you think of this chapter in the comments and you can yell at me on [Tumblr @imawriteriwrite](http://imawriteriwrite.tumblr.com/)! <3<3<3
> 
> Next chapter will be up tomorrow and will include Magnus and Alec going ice skating... ;)


	4. Searching For The Meaning Of Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus and Alec have some Christmas fun.

“So…” Magnus started, staring across the hall at Alec. They’d just walked back from the diner where Alec had offered to be Magnus’ fake boyfriend and Magnus was still…processing. Cat had teased him about asking Alec to do it, but Magnus hadn’t taken the suggestion seriously. He wouldn’t have thought Alec would agree to it so willing, not just agree, but suggest it himself.

“So…” Alec parroted, eyes dark in the dim yellow light of the hall. “This is crazy, isn’t it?”

Magnus laughed, nodding. “Probably. Could be fun though, if you truly don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind,” Alec said quickly. They lingered, staring at each other from a few feet away, neither sure where to go from here.

“We should probably make a plan or something,” Magnus finally said. “The party’s on the twentieth.”

Alec nodded, clearing his throat and looking away from Magnus for a minute like he was getting his thoughts in order. “Right. My mom's party is on the twenty-third.”

“Perfect,” Magnus said, unsure of why his heart was racing about in his chest. “So… I guess I’ll see you tomorrow? If you have time we can go over the details of your party. We’ll need to pick a date as soon as possible.”

“Right,” Alec said, nodding. “Tomorrow night sounds good.”

“Good,” Magnus said, mouth tilting up in a small smile. His keys were in his hand and there was really nothing more to say but still, he didn’t open his door yet. Something in his stomach fluttered as their eyes met once again. Magnus bit back a smirk at the thought that he must’ve been good this year, to deserve the gift of having Alec live across from him. Not to mention the excuses they now had to spend time together. He didn’t want to get ahead of himself but part of him was giddy at the thought of spending more time with Alec.

Alec cleared his throat, a light blush crossing his face as he seemed to realize they were just standing there, staring at each other. “Well, good night,” he said stiffly.

Magnus smirked, unable to help the teasing, flirty edge to his voice as he gave Alec a small wave, all but purring, “Good night, Alexander.”

***

The next week passed quickly for Alec. Days were spent lingering in his apartment or else going down to the nearest coffee shop to write. Alec was shocked by how easily words were flowing after spending the last three months of barely turning out a page a week. Nights were far more interesting than he could’ve anticipated as they were spent with Magnus. They ironed out the details for Alec’s party, Magnus even dragged Alec furniture shopping one night, and they somehow ended up having dinner together every night the next week. Sure, half of those nights were with the others, at the diner, but the other nights, it was just the two of them.

Alec had forgotten how much he loved being around Magnus. Magnus was the kind of person who, whenever you were in their presence, you couldn’t help but be in a good mood. He’d forgotten what it was like to be around Magnus, to be friends with him and kicked himself for ever letting their friendship fall apart even if it hurt, being so far away, knowing they’d never be more than friends. It was effortless now, falling into an easy friendship, it didn’t feel the least bit weird. He could almost forget they hadn’t seen each other in six years.

Saturday, Alec’s furniture was delivered. A classy but comfortable black couch, a couple fluffy armchairs to match that Magnus had picked out for Alec simply because of how comfortable they were. A coffee table, a tv, a dining table and chairs, and small things Alec never would’ve thought to get himself. Alec had let Magnus guide him on everything except the most important, his desk. It wasn’t very large but he only needed it to hold his laptop really, he always did line edits on the dining table. It was vintage, the paint chipping along the edges but it fit perfectly in his upstairs room and the moment Alec had seen it, he’d pictured himself sitting there, day after day, writing. It was perfect.

Saturday night, Alec was finally beginning to unpack when Magnus knocked on the door. Recognizing Magnus’ knocking, Alec called out for him to come in.

“Oh, good,” Magnus grinned, taking in the apartment. “Your furniture was delivered.”

Alec nodded, carrying a box of dishes to the kitchen. “Does it meet your standards?” he teased.

Magnus scowled before looking around once again, more slowly. “As a matter of fact, it does.”

Alec snorted, discreetly eyeing Magnus who was dressed in loose black pants and a low cut, dark green shirt, a handful of necklaces of varying lengths glinting against a flash of bronze skin. Alec swallowed dryly, looking away.

“What can I do to help?” Magnus asked.

“What? You don’t have to help,” Alec said, quickly. “I’m sure you have better things to do.”

Magnus shrugged, moving to a nearby box overflowing with books. “How peculiar are you about your books?” he asked, sorting through a stack.

“Not very,” Alec said, watching Magnus’ hands, long fingers adorned with rings, flipping through the pages of a book that caught his interest.

“Good,” Magnus said, looking up with a grin that turned knowing as he caught Alec looking at him.

Alec flushed, looking away. “You really don’t have to help with this,” Alec repeated. “I assume it’s not in your job description.”

Magnus shrugged, moving to carefully organize a stack of books on one of the bookshelves. “True. But I don’t mind. It’s either this or watching Christmas movies with my cat.”

“Oh? So spending time with me ranks above Chairman Meow?”

Magnus glanced over, surprise written clear across his face at Alec’s flirty tone. He arched an elegant eyebrow, smirking knowingly before shrugging. “I didn’t say that,” he pointed out. “Maybe I just don’t feel like watching a movie tonight.”

“Uh-huh. Maybe.” Alec bit his lip, forcing his gaze away from Magnus. It felt like dangerous territory, flirting with Magnus. Not dangerous as in scary and life-threatening, more…thrilling, making Alec’s blood simmer. “It’s okay to admit you like spending time with me,” he found himself teasing. “I won’t tell anyone.”

Magnus snorted, moving to a second box of books, carefully sorting them before putting them on the shelves. “It’s not you I came for, it’s the books.”

“Oh. So you like my _books_?”

Magnus laughed out right at that, shaking his head as he looked at Alec over his shoulder. He eyed Alec up and down slowly before shrugging. “They’re alright, I guess.”

Alec smirked, finally turning back to where he was unloading a box of dishes. His pulse thrummed, heart skipping about. He could feel it again then, the tension in the air between them. Magnus had to feel it too, didn’t he? Alec snuck a look back at Magnus who was chewing his bottom lip, a book in each hand as he tried to decide where they fit on the shelf. Alec’s heart tumbled about rather violently and he turned back to the dishes, smiling to himself when Magnus started humming behind him.

***

Magnus connected his phone to Alec’s speakers, putting on some Christmas music as Alec ordered food. Hanging up the phone, Alec glared at Magnus. “Really?”

Magnus sighed forlornly, shaking his head at Alec, trying not to smile. “I simply cannot accept that you hate Christmas, I’m sorry.”

Alec smiled exasperatedly. Leaving his phone on the counter, he moved closer to Magnus. Everything else had been unpacked but Magnus was still sorting through boxes of books. Alec grabbed a stack, seeming to be contemplating. As he stared shelving them, he spoke quietly, “It’s not that I hate Christmas, per say,” he said slowly, like he was trying to figure out how to explain it.

Magnus waited patiently, putting up his own stack of books, standing close so their shoulders brushed, making Magnus’ heart skip about.

Alec sighed. “I just think everyone makes a bigger deal out of it than necessary. It’s just one day. I don’t really see the point of…all of it…”

Magnus bit back the urge to immediately tease Alec, thinking through what he said instead. “I think it’s nice,” Magnus finally said. “I mean…It’s not really about all the…stuff. The decorating, the shopping, the baking. I love it all but Christmas is not about the _things_ , it’s about the people you do the things with, for. I don’t know that I buy into the whole religious aspect but it’s nice having a specific time, whether you only celebrate on Christmas or the whole month, to spend with your chosen family and friends. That’s the point after all, isn’t it? To be with the ones you love? Celebrate? Have fun.”

Alec had stopped unpacking as Magnus talked, turning to face him, eyes narrowed in thought.

Magnus cleared his throat, looking up from the books he’d been idly putting up.

“I guess it’s just that, when we were little, Izzy, Jace, and I, Christmas wasn’t a big deal. Or it was, but because it was a chance for our parents to show off. It was a busy time of year, they were never around. Christmas was about the big party they threw every year and nothing else. They paid someone to buy us presents. They weren’t even there half the time when we opened them, so it was always my job to make it special for Isabelle and Jace. I guess… I never thought about it as anything more than a job.”

Magnus was watching Alec closely, so he saw Alec’s breath hitch when he looked back up, suddenly noticing how close they stood. Magnus’ heart skipped, making itself known in his chest. His hands were suddenly sweaty as their eyes locked. The moment dragged out for a minute. Magnus thought that maybe, if he wanted to lean in, Alec would do the same but he held back, still testing the waters.

“What are you doing tomorrow night?” Magnus asked, voice soft to match the quiet moment.

Alec blinked, swallowed, blinked again. “Um. Nothing?”

“Perfect,” Magnus beamed.

“Why?”

“Scrooge,” Magnus said, sighing theatrically. “I’m going to show you the meaning of Christmas.”

“That sounds like a bad innuendo,” Alec snorted, then his brain caught up to what he’d said, face going red, eyes wide.

Magnus laughed, turning back to the bookshelf, trying to pretend like he wasn’t affected by _that_ thought. “Come on, let’s finish this before food arrives.”

Alec nodded, falling back in beside him. Magnus smirked to himself, letting his arm brush Alec’s off and on, letting their fingers just barely touch as they shelved the rest of his books, slipping in a few flirty remarks here and there, gauging Alec’s reactions. He’d changed since college, in small ways and big ways. He was more confident in himself, Magnus had seen that right away. Even back in college, Alec would blush and stutter his way through half of Magnus’ flirtatious teasing. Now, he shot back with his own, only getting caught off guard once in a while. Magnus found himself hoping it wasn’t just because Alec had grown more confident of himself, but that also, he wanted to be flirting with Magnus.

Food arrived just as they finished unpacking the living room. They ate at Alec’s new kitchen table, talking about everything from the party to Alec’s writing to Magnus’ business, to the demon cat lurking in the kitchen, eyeing their food hungrily. They ended up in a brief argument, voices raised, as they talked about their favorite books, disagreeing as often as they agreed. And still, they snuck glances at each other, testing each other, getting a feel for what there might be between them.

Magnus was about to head back to his apartment when he smelled it; snow.

“What are you doing?” Alec asked as Magnus turned to his balcony, opening the doors and stepping out without hesitation. “Are you serious? It’s freezing. You’re going to catch a cold.”

Magnus smiled at the concern in Alec’s voice but ignored it. As he watched, the first snowflakes began to fall. Magnus shivered, not from the stiff breeze but from excitement. He loved the first snowfall of the season.

“Have you gone crazy?” Alec asked, still standing inside the warm apartment.

Magnus shrugged. “It’s not that bad,” he said, tilting his head back, tongue out to try and catch a snowflake.

Alec huffed, turning and walking further into the apartment. Magnus shrugged, leaning against the wall, staring up at the snowflakes spiraling down in a dizzying dance along the breeze. He breathed in deeply, enjoying the fresh, crisp smell of snow. Sure, he’d hate it as much as anyone when he inevitably slipped on the ice or was covered in slush walking down the street the next day, it’d become his enemy going to work Monday but for now, it was his favorite thing in the world.

Everything changed when it snowed, the world taking on a magical look. The first snow of the season, Magnus knew, was the perfect night for crazy things to happen. People fell in love in the snow. Wishes came true as snowflakes fell all around.

He was startled when something warm fell over his shoulders suddenly, looking up to find Alec behind him, already shivering in the cold in nothing but a thin shirt.

“I didn’t hear you come back,” Magnus said, smiling softly down at Alec’s leather coat that now rested around his shoulders. It was warm and smelled like Alec’s aftershave.

“If you’re going to stay out here, you may as well not freeze,” Alec said, staring out at the snow for a minute before turning back to go inside.

Magnus turned with him, catching his hand on an impulse. A shock went through him where their fingers brushed, warming his insides.

Alec froze at the touch, turning back slightly to face Magnus, staring at their hands for a minute before following Magnus’ back up to meet his eyes. Alec arched an eyebrow but made no move to pull away, even as the cold made him pale.

“Come on,” Magnus said, nodding down at the street below. “Let’s go for a walk. You can keep me warm,” he added with a wink.

Alec opened his mouth, looking like was about to say no before reconsidering. He looked from Magnus’ eyes to the snow falling over Magnus’ shoulders, seeming torn. Magnus stuck his lower lip out in a pout, stepping closer to Alec and angling his head so he was just barely looking up at him.

“Come on,” he said in a low, sultry voice. “It’ll be fun.”

Alec glanced down at him, eyes narrowing at Magnus’ pout before he sighed. “Fine.”

“Don’t sound so excited,” Magnus laughed, following Alec back inside. “Where’s the adventurer in you? You’re a writer, you should love adventures.”

“Is walking around in the freezing cold in the middle of the night really an adventure?” Alec asked. He shook his head when Magnus went to hand him back his jacket. “You can use it, I’ll grab another.”

Magnus hid a smile as Alec moved to his closet, slipping Alec’s leather jacket around his shoulders and forcing himself to not be a weirdo and sniff it.

Alec pulled on a long black jacket, turning to Magnus with a crooked smile. “If I get sick, you get to explain to my editor why I’ve fallen behind schedule,” he threatened.

Magnus laughed, grabbing Alec’s hand and tugging him to the door.

***

Alec had no idea what was happening between him and Magnus. He’d only been back in New York for just over two weeks but it felt like a lot longer. Seattle and everything he’d had there was a distant memory. And Magnus…Magnus looked an awful lot like a bright, shiny new beginning. He’d come back to New York for a fresh start, to be closer to his family, to write. But, walking down the street, following the directions Magnus had texted him, finding Magnus standing in front of the ice-skating rink, smirking at Alec dressed in a warm black coat with a purple scarf and matching pants, Alec was beginning to wonder if, subconsciously, he’d come back to New York for Magnus. Maybe it was some epic plan of the universe, to bring them back together. So they could finally see if there was something there. To figure out what might have happened had they not been interrupted on graduation night.

Alec’s heart did this strange racing, skipping thing it’d been doing since Magnus tugged him out of his apartment last night to go walking in the snow. He’d held Alec’s hand the entire time, like it was the easiest thing in the world. They were just friends, Alec knew, but he couldn’t help but wonder if Magnus felt the tension in the air, the possibilities lingering on their tongues, the way Alec did. Or was it all in Alec’s head? Was he chasing something that wasn’t ever real? It didn’t feel like it, he thought, coming to a stop before Magnus, rolling his eyes as Magnus held up two pairs of ice skates.

“Really?” Alec asked. “How is this going to show me the meaning of Christmas or whatever it was you promised last night?”

“Yes, really,” Magnus smirked. “And just wait. This is only the first part of my master plan,” he said, tilting his head up.

Alec arched an eyebrow. “What’s the rest of the plan?”

Magnus stepped close, leaning in to whisper in Alec’s ear. Alec’s heart skipped. “If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” Magnus whispered, breath warm on Alec’s ear.

Alec snorted, fighting a shiver as Magnus pulled back, pushing a pair of skates into Alec’s hands, smirking all the while. Alec shook his head, staring at the ice rink with narrowed eyes. “I’ve haven’t gone ice skating in…years,” he admitted.

“And you weren’t very good the last time you went,” Magnus added, laughing. “Don’t worry,” he said, turning and grabbing Alec’s hand. Snow continued to fall softly, the night bright, the soft sounds of Christmas music reaching them from the speakers set up around the rink that was adorned with garland and bright Christmas lights. A snowflake landed on Magnus’ eyelashes, framing his brown eyes that looked almost gold, twinkling in the light as he tugged Alec toward the rink. He didn’t wear a hat, the snow falling into his spiked-up hair complete with a purple streak, the vaguest hints of a five o’clock shadow could be seen along his jaw, Alec couldn’t help but notice as Magnus grinned at him. “Just don’t let go of me.”

Alec ducked his head, hiding a smile as he followed Magnus. Maybe Christmas wasn’t so bad after all.

***

“See, it’s easy,” Magnus said, staring up into Alec’s eyes instead of paying attention to where they were skating. Both their hands were clasped, breath fogging between them in the cold, snowy night. Alec wore his leather jacket and a red knit hat pulled low over his ears, the tip of his nose was turning red in the cold, forcing Magnus to bite back an amused smile.

Alec glanced up, hazel eyes shining as he smiled softly. “It’s not bad,” he admitted.

Magnus gave in and grinned, tugging on Alec’s hands to pull him closer, telling himself he was just using Alec to block the wind as they skated in a circle around the rink. “Glad you’re enjoying my company,” he smirked.

Alec shrugged. “It’s alright.”

Magnus’ mouth fell open. “Oh? Only alright?” he teased, abruptly letting go of Alec, leaving him to fend for himself.

Alec gave a startled shout apparently not ready to skate on his own. His legs shot out from under him, he grabbed for Magnus, the world tilted abruptly and then they were on the ground. Magnus’ fall was at least softened by Alec whose breath escaped in a loud huff as he landed on his butt.

Magnus scrambled up. “I’m so sorry,” he said. “I didn’t think you’d actually fall.”

He pushed away from Alec, staring down at him to see him looking straight up at the sky. Raising an eyebrow, Magnus looked up seeing nothing but the lights of the rink and the snow falling from the dark sky.

“Is this the magic of Christmas?” Alec deadpanned.

Looking back to Alec who was now looking at Magnus with an exasperated look on his face, Magnus couldn’t help it and started laughing, his whole body shaking, eyes watering as he still laid on top of Alec who shook his head, sighing. “Yes, laugh it up. Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

“You deserved that,” Magnus snorted. He managed to stop laughing long enough to climb to his feet, helping Alec up with a fond smile on his face. Alec wiped himself off and when he looked up again, he was smiling that crooked smile that had been Magnus’ downfall since college.

“This is kind of fun,” he admitted.

“Yeah?” Magnus asked, meeting his smile with one his own. He held his hand out, inclining his head. “Want to keep going?”

Alec considered him for a moment before accepting his hand. Magnus felt suddenly warm in the freezing New York night. Assuring himself that it had absolutely nothing to do with Alec Lightwood’s stupid face nor his smile and definitely not his hand, warm in Magnus’ own, Magnus tugged Alec’s hand, pulling him along beside him.

***

“You know,” Magnus started idly as they grabbed some hot chocolate before turning to walk around the rink. Alec glanced over him as they walked, trying to decide if he was allowed to reach out and take Magnus’ free hand. They came to a stop looking out over the rink. Alec watched Magnus as he watched the skaters for a moment before finally turning to look at Alec. His eyes were dark, his nose turning red from the cold, his hair looked fluffier than usual from skating and Alec’s heart ached for a moment, nearly distracting him from Magnus’ words. “I’m glad you moved back to New York,” he admitted, not his teasing voice but a soft, sincere one.

Alec swallowed dryly. “Yeah?”

Magnus nodded, shifting the slightest bit closer to Alec, his eyes turning slightly darker. Alec’s breath hitched.

“Me too,” he admitted, voice barely loud enough to be heard over the loud night as he too shifted the littlest bit closer so there was only the smallest amount of space between them. He took a moment to gather the courage, staring into Magnus’ eyes before admitting, “And I’m really glad we ran into each other again.”

Magnus grinned slowly, lighting up his whole face. “Yeah?”

Alec nodded, unable to remember just then how to speak. In his mind, it was graduation night all over again. The memory of them slowly leaning closer together as they sat on the bed, eyes meeting before dropping to each other’s mouths. It’d been hesitant, their breath mingling, eyes watching each other closely, carefully. They’d stopped with their lips scarcely a centimeter apart. Alec vividly remembered the way his heart had felt as if it would burst from his chest at any moment, the way Magnus’ hand had covered his resting on the bed between them. The way it felt when their lips just lightly brushed, his pulse racing erratically before they slammed together.

Alec blinked, dispelling the memories, his eyes dropping briefly to Magnus’ lips. He could still remember what it felt like to kiss him even though it’d only happened once, six years ago. He wondered if it would feel the same, doing it now.

Before Alec could figure out what to say or do next, someone was skating past them shouting, “Are you losers just going to stand there or are you going to skate?”

Alec looked up sharply, sighing when he found Isabelle smirking at him. Simon stood next to her with Clary, the two of them looking as if they were about to race, while Maia stood nearest, waving with a knowing look in her eyes.

Alec rolled his eyes. “We’re done—” he started to say when Magnus cut him off.

“Coming now,” Magnus said, smirking at Alec before heading back to the rink.

Alec sighed, following after him. He couldn’t help but notice that, as they joined the others, circling the rink, laughing at some story Clary and Simon were telling, Magnus made no move to take Alec’s hand. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he pretended not to notice.

They skated for a while longer. Alec had to admit to having fun, especially when Simon fell, but he couldn’t help but wish the others hadn’t shown up just when they did.

Isabelle cornered him as he was sitting on a bench, taking off his skates. Sitting down next to him, she grinned in that Isabelle way of hers that made Alec sigh, knowing exactly what was coming next.

“Sooo…” Isabelle smirked, not even hesitating. “Magnus?” she prompted.

Alec shook his head slowly, pulling his skates off. “It’s not like that.”

“Like what?”

Alec rolled his eyes. “Like _that_ ,” he repeated.

Isabelle sighed, long and loud. “Then what is it like, brother dearest?”

Alec hesitated, slipping his boots back on, brow furrowed in thought. “We’re…friends,” he said, sounding uncertain even to his own ears. “I mean. I think we’re friends.”

Isabelle nodded thoughtfully. “And you aren’t still harboring a secret crush on him?” she teased.

Alec sighed, glancing off to the side where Magnus stood talking with Clary and Maia. His hands were moving as he spoke, the ever-present smirk back on his face. It was unfair, Alec thought, how beautiful Magnus was, how smart and funny. Totally unfair, how was Alec ever to get over his crush when Magnus was so…Magnus? He turned back to his shoes, shaking his head. There was no point in trying to keep it from Isabelle, she’d known first hand just how much Alec had liked Magnus back in college.

“Maybe,” he finally said. “A little,” he hesitated before admitting, “We’re going to be each other’s dates for the holiday season —”

“What?”

“Magnus needed someone to pretend to be his boyfriend for some party. I…volunteered.”

“Of course you did,” Isabelle said, practically cackling as she slipped her fuzzy black boots on.

“But…it’s nothing,” Alec said, again uncertain.

“But you want it to be something,” Isabelle pointed out. “You should go for it. You two have been dancing around each other since freshman year.”

“I… It’s – there’s nothing between us,” Alec sighed, looking back at Magnus who caught his eye, and was it just Alec or did Magnus’ smile suddenly get wider?

“Ah. Yes. I see,” Isabelle said, standing. “Definitely nothing.”

Alec rolled his eyes, swiping out at her lazily, she easily avoided his hand, smacking him on the arm. “You want to have his babies,” she teased.

Flushing, Alec stood. “Shut up.”

Isabelle laughed, following him back to the others. Magnus stepped close to Alec, even taking his hand as they walked together back to their apartments. Alec barely said a word, forcing himself to remember how to breathe, trying to work through his thoughts.

Fuck, Alec thought. Isabelle was right. He did want Magnus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Don't forget to comment and let me know your thoughts! You can also yell at me on [Tumblr @imawriteriwrite](http://imawriteriwrite.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> Next chapter: the fake dating fun begins! *grins*


	5. Fake Dating 101

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus and Alec begin their fake dating adventures.

“What about this?” Magnus asked, holding up a truly ugly pair of ripped jeans.

Clary looked up from where she was sorting through a rack of shirts, snorting before rolling her eyes. “Are you going to spend the whole day suggesting terrible gifts for Jace?”

Magnus shrugged, hanging the jeans back up before moving to her side. “Everyone loves a good gag gift,” he smirked.

“Come on, this is serious,” Clary pouted. “You’re the master gift giver and I need you.”

Magnus sighed forlornly, looking towards the door out at the rest of the mall where hot chocolate and warm pretzels were waiting for him. “Life as a master gift giver is such a hard life,” he said, glancing back at Clary with his own puppy dog eyes.

“If we get pretzels and hot chocolate will you help me?” she asked.

Magnus perked up, nodding.

“You’re so dramatic when you’re hungry.”

“Shut up,” Magnus teased. “You love me. Besides, I already know what you’re going to get Jace but now I’m not going to tell you until after we get pretzels.”

Clary grinned. “Really?”

“Of course,” Magnus shrugged. “They don’t call me the master gift giver for nothing.”

They headed down to the food court, idly chatting about work and a new art gallery they wanted to check out. They got soft pretzels covered in cinnamon sugar and hot chocolate before wandering back through the large mall, looking through windows more often than going into stores.

“Izzy is going to hate me,” Clary sighed after purchasing the app-controlled drones.

“That is true,” Magnus agreed. “But Jace and Simon will both love you forever.”

“They’re going to wreck these things,” Clary said, shaking her head slowly.

“On Christmas, no less,” Magnus snorted. “They’re like children. But that ten minutes they spend before crashing them into each other will be the best ten minutes of their lives.”

Clary snorted before inclining her head in agreement. “So, anyone left to shop for?” she asked as they left the store.

Magnus hummed thoughtfully, sipping his gingerbread hot chocolate. “Nope. All I have left is to pick up some coal for you.”

Clary gasped, knocking her shoulder against Magnus’. “Rude.”

Magnus shrugged.

“What about Alec?” Clary asked in a low teasing voice.

Magnus looked over sharply, eyes narrowed. Clary was smirking, her eyes shining with amusement. “What about Alec?” Magnus demanded.

“Are you getting him something?”

Magnus looked away, continuing through the mall. After a moment, he sighed. “I haven’t decided if it would be appropriate yet.”

Clary made a thoughtful noise, nodding slowly. “I think a small gift is appropriate for an old friend whose suddenly in your life again and whom you want to climb like a tree.”

Magnus nearly choked on his hot chocolate. “Clarissa!” he gasped. “Language, you’re a child.”

Clary snorted. “I am not. And it’s true.”

Magnus glared straight ahead, refusing to acknowledge that…nonsense.

“So?” Clary prompted a few minutes later, stopping to look up at the large Christmas tree that towered up through the mall.

Magnus arched an eyebrow.

“Come on, talk to me,” Clary said, batting her eyelashes at him. “Do you still like him?”

Magnus inclined his head, thinking. Did he still like Alec? Well, that was obvious enough. Yes. But… But did he still like Alec because he actually liked him or was it just a nostalgia thing? Was it in a ‘this might be something’ way or an ‘I wish this had been something and am holding on for no real reason’ kind of thing?

Magnus shook his head. He was overcomplicating it, he knew. He liked spending time with Alec. He liked talking to Alec, just like he always had. For now, that was enough.

“I’m…feeling things out,” he finally said.

“Oh?” Clary asked.

Magnus nodded, acting more confident than he felt. “It’s just… I don’t know. Back in college, we always seemed to have such bad timing, you know? And now that he’s back, if there is something here… I don’t want to rush it.”

“You don’t want to get hurt again.”

Magnus scoffed, staring down at his red coffee cup. “I wasn’t hurt last time. You can’t be hurt if you were never together.”

“We both know that’s a lie,” Clary said softly, resting her hand on Magnus’ arm. “You were at least a little heartbroken when he left, don’t lie.”

Magnus looked up into her wide grin eyes and shrugged. Sure, he hadn’t exactly been thrilled Alec had left but it wasn’t fair to say he’d been even a little heartbroken. They weren’t together. Alec didn’t know how he felt back then – hell, Magnus still didn’t know if Alec had even felt the same. They’d only kissed once, he had no right to be hurt over that. And it didn’t matter anyway, that was six years ago. He just…didn’t want to get his hopes up yet. He was having fun, enjoying himself. That’s all that this was just then.

“Are you inviting him to the party tomorrow night?” Clary asked. “He is supposed to be your fake boyfriend after all. What better way to test things out?”

Magnus inclined his head, considering her words. He’d planned on going to this particular party alone but…it would be more fun with Alec, wouldn’t it?

***

Alec had been sitting on the couch in silence, writing for he didn’t know how long when a sudden knock on the door pulled him from his thoughts. Glancing over his shoulder, Alec ignored the knocking long enough to finish the paragraph he was on before setting his laptop aside and hurrying to the door. His mind was very much still focused on his writing so it took him a moment after opening the door to process who stood there, when he finally did, he found himself smiling softly.

“Hey,” he said, heart skipping when Magnus smiled back at him. Alec glanced over his shoulder for a minute, checking the time. When had it gotten to be night? He should probably eat at some point.

“Did you forget to eat because you were too busy writing?” Magnus asked with an amused look.

Alec smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “How’d you know?”

Magnus shrugged. “You have that look about you, I remember it well,” he smirked. “I believe it’s the ‘this poor boy would waste away to nothing if not for me dragging him out in the middle of the night to eat’ look.”

“That’s… a very particular look,” Alec laughed.

“It is,” Magnus agreed, gravely. “And also, it’s seven at night and you’re wearing the same pajamas I saw you check the mail in early this afternoon. When’s the last time you ate?”

Alec ran a hand through his hair, squinting as he thought. His stomach rumbled helpfully. “Does snacking count?”

Magnus rolled his eyes, shaking his head. “Come on, I haven’t eaten yet, we can go to the diner. Unless the fate of the world relies on your writing that is?” he asked, inclining his head.

Alec bit his lip on a smile, shaking his head. “I think the world can wait until I get back.”

“Good,” Magnus grinned, waving Alec away. “Go change and we can walk over together.”

Alec saluted, watching Magnus snort as he turned to his own apartment. “I’ll just be a minute,” Alec said, shutting the door. Church ran headfirst into the door, making Alec jump as he hadn’t seen the cat sneaking up on him. Alec shook his head, glaring at Church as Church hissed at him. “That wasn’t my fault.”

“So…how’s the novel coming?” Magnus asked as they walked the short distance to the diner.

Alec cleared his throat, shrugging. “It’s…coming,” he said evasively.

Magnus nodded. “I get it, you don’t have to talk. Just, please tell me my favorite character doesn’t die?”

Alec chuckled before smirking. “And save you the pain of worrying about that while reading the next book?” he teased.

Magnus pouted, bumping their shoulders together as they walked. “You’re evil, Lightwood.”

“I try.”

Alec was quickly getting used to this, he realized as they sat down in the back corner booth. Dangerously used to it. Spending time with Magnus, having dinner together… It was nice and he liked it, he just wasn’t sure what it meant, if it meant anything at all. Friends had dinner together, friends spent time together. Alec knew he still felt more for Magnus than mere friendship and there were times – when their gazes would catch and linger, or that moment by the ice rink – when he thought, maybe, Magnus felt something more for him too but… But Alec had only been back in New York for a little bit and he didn’t know for sure, if Magnus felt the same thing he did when their eyes met, or their hands brushed.

Alec caught himself smiling at Magnus for no reason and quickly turned back to the topic at hand. They lingered at the diner longer than Alec should’ve, longer than he normally would in the middle of such an intense scene, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave yet, lingering until Magnus suddenly glanced at the clock and they simultaneously realized hours had passed.

They walked back to the apartment building in comfortable silence. The streets were still covered in a light layer of ice from the night before but most of the snow had melted. Alec pulled his coat close in the cold, stepping nearer to Magnus on instinct when he shivered. Magnus looked up, smiling, brown eyes soft and wide, shining under the streetlights. Alec’s breath hitched, and he didn’t even notice when they stopped walking, just standing on the street, staring at each other.

Eventually, Magnus cleared his throat, glancing away for a minute before meeting Alec’s gaze again. “Sooo,” he started slowly. “I have this thing tomorrow night. A Christmas party. It’s my old boss’ – she’s the one that helped me set up my business and taught me everything I know. And I was wondering…if you wanted to come with?”

Alec was answering before he even finished processing what Magnus was saying. “Yeah. Of course.”

Magnus’ mouth tilted up in an amused smile. “Good,” he said, eyes shining. “It’ll be fun, I promise.”

It only occurred to Alec when he was back in his apartment, back on his couch with his laptop resting on his lap, that Magnus hadn’t clarified if this was part of their fake dating arrangement or…a real date. Alec swallowed dryly, turning his attention back to his laptop. It wasn’t a real date, he told himself, if anything it was just a friends thing. Nothing more. They had an arrangement, that was it. It didn’t matter if he wanted it to be more because it wasn’t. Not yet, at least.

***

Magnus was just slipping his shoes on when there was a knock at his door. Crossing the apartment, he opened it to find Alec standing on the other side in sweats and a tshirt, frowning hopelessly. Magnus bit his lip on a smile, quickly noting Alec’s hair that was sticking up in every direction, wet from a shower, and the way Alec’s eyebrows rose as his eyes dropped, looking Magnus up and down. Magnus had gone with a low cut, deep red silk shirt, tight pants, and suspenders hanging down at his waist. His hair was tipped red, his makeup dark and sexy and his boots made it so the bare inch or so Alec had on him was gone.

Alec cleared his throat. “Isabelle says I’m hopeless, I think she might be right,” he finally said.

Magnus arched an eyebrow.

“I don’t know what to wear,” Alec explained with a roll of his eyes.

“Ahh,” Magnus nodded. Stepping back into his apartment, he grabbed his keys and phone before stepping out into the hall with Alec. Magnus walked straight past Alec into his apartment, heading into Alec’s closet and making quick work of going through the options.

“I see your wardrobe has expanded since college,” Magnus teased, holding up the sleeve of a single red shirt, the only bright color in Alec’s closet.

“There’s dark green and blue too,” Alec pointed out, leaning back against his bed, watching Magnus closely.

“I stand corrected,” Magnus snorted. He continued flipping through Alec’s clothes until he landed on an expensive black long sleeve. He was tempted to pick something with more color but figured Alec would be more comfortable in black. He also picked out a pair of Alec’s nicer pants, handing them both to the other man and turning to leave him to get dressed.

In the living room, Magnus and Church had a staring contest, the cat had his haunches raised and a deadly look in its demon eyes. The contest lasted a good ten minutes and Magnus was starting to get worried the cat was casting some kind of spell on him when suddenly Church ran off with a soft meow, past Magnus who turned to see Alec stepping out of the bathroom. The cat rubbed up against Alec’s legs, apparently having decided that he liked Alec.

Forgetting the cat at the sight of Alec, Magnus stared appreciatively at his work. Despite finding the lack of color in Alec’s wardrobe highly disturbing, Magnus did have to admit that Alec had always had looked good in black.

“Good?” Alec asked, breaking Magnus from his thoughts and slow appreciation of Alec in the tight shirt and tighter pants.

“Just one thing,” Magnus said, stepping toward Alec. He reached up, running his hands through Alec’s hair quickly, leaving it slightly messy but in a more purposeful way. Hearing Alec’s breath hitch, Magnus looked down from his hair, into Alec’s eyes; his heart skidded to a sudden stop as he realized how close they were, breath mingling.

Magnus quickly went back to Alec’s hair, running his fingers through it once more before letting his hands fall. “Perfect,” he said softly, eyes locked with Alec’s that looked brighter than usual.

Magnus swallowed, letting his eyes drop to Alec’s lips for a moment before looking back up.

“Magnus,” Alec said, just loud enough for Magnus to hear, just his name, lingering in the air as Alec’s eyes narrowed and he shifted closer, hand coming up, lingering at Magnus’ side, not quite touching him.

Magnus licked his lips, searching Alec’s eyes as his heart pounded loud and slightly painful. He waited a moment, gathering the courage, lingering, and then he was tilting his head, leaning in and —

Church hissed, rushing past and bumping into Magnus, thoroughly pulling him out of the moment. The world crashed back in around them and Magnus stepped back, clearing his throat. Alec looked away, rubbing the back of his neck.

What had he been about to do?

“We should probably…”

“Go?” Magnus suggested when Alec trailed off. “Yeah, we should,” he said, turning to the door, biting back a grin before glaring at Church. “Demon,” Magnus hissed, passing the cat.

“What?” Alec asked, pausing with his coat half on.

“Nothing,” Magnus said quickly. “Shall we?”

***

The party was held in a penthouse apartment that had been turned into a winter wonderland. Alec counted at least a dozen snowflake ice sculptures and, in the large room where the party was held, the tables that held finger foods were decorated to look like they were snow covered while the large tree near the wide windows was decorated with fake snow and what seemed to be a hundred or more snowflake ornaments, no two the same.

“This is your old boss’ party?” Alec asked, staring at another ice sculpture snowflake.

Magnus nodded, eyes roaming over the room where a couple dozen people stood about, talking and laughing, a few were dancing in the middle of the cleared room as soft music played in the background.

“I can see they influenced you a lot,” Alec said, nodding to the ice sculpture when Magnus turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

Magnus snorted, shoving Alec’s arm lightly. “Shut up,” he whispered before taking Alec’s hand. Alec froze, heart skipping but then Magnus was walking further into the room, leading Alec behind him. Alec’s blood rushed through his ears and he shook his head to clear it, fingers interlocking with Magnus’ easily as they walked.

Magnus’ boss turned out to be a stern looking older woman with a pinched face. Alec frowned, he couldn’t quite see this woman as Magnus’ mentor. But then she finished talking to a dark-haired woman and turned to Magnus and her entire demeanor changed, eyes brightening, a wide smile on her face. “My protege,” she teased, pulling Magnus in for a tight hug. “It’s been too long darling.”

Magnus chuckled softly, pressing a kiss to her cheek before pulling back. “Entirely my fault,” Magnus said. “I’m sorry.”

“You’ve been busy taking over the city, I understand,” the woman said, shaking her head, rolling her eyes at Magnus before turning to Alec. “And who is this?” she asked with a knowing look.

Magnus cleared his throat and if Alec wasn’t mistaken he appeared slightly flustered. “Imogen,” he said in a strange voice. “This is Alec, my…boyfriend. Alec, Imogen, the woman who taught me everything I know about running my own business.”

Alec struggled not to react to Magnus’ introduction, mind briefly catching on the word ‘boyfriend’. He wasn’t sure how to react, part of him disappointed at the introduction because it meant this was just part of their deal and another part of him stuck on the thought of being Magnus’ boyfriend. It was fake now, but did it have to be?

Alec swallowed, forcing himself to smile as he offered his hand to Magnus’ old boss.

Imogen smiled slyly, giving Magnus a look as she shook Alec’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet Magnus’ boyfriend,” she said. “Tell me, what do you do Alec?”

“Don’t you have more guests to greet?” Magnus was quick to interrupt.

“Hush you, I’m trying to get to know the boy.”

Alec smiled, amused. He stepped closer to Magnus, letting their sides brush. “I’m an author,” he explained.

“Oh?” Imogen said, raising an eyebrow.

“Not just an author,” Magnus said. “A bestselling author. He’s even won awards.”

Imogen looked impressed, eyebrow raising even further while Alec cleared his throat, waving away the compliment.

“Where did you find this one?” Imogen asked, eyeing Alec up and down.

Flustered, Alec glanced away, heart skipping when Magnus suddenly took his hand again, leaning close in to Alec’s side.

“We actually met in college,” Magnus explained.

Imogen smiled softly. “I’m sensing there’s a cute story here,” she said.

Magnus glanced at Alec, Alec stared back not knowing what to say, catching Magnus’ soft smile in a distracted manner. They’d briefly discussed what they’d tell people – they’d known each other in college, Alec just moved back, and they reconnected. It was new but nice – but they hadn’t settled on any details and just then Alec couldn’t think of a word to say.

“It’s…kind of cute,” Magnus admitted.

Imogen waved him on.

Alec found he couldn’t look away as Magnus turned back to the older woman, voice soft as he recounted their story.

“I had a crush on him,” Magnus admitted. Alec nearly choked before reminding himself it was just a story. “For four years but we were always busy, you know? We were never single at the right time or something would come up, so we spent four years dancing around each other,” he said with an amused smile, rolling his eyes as he glanced at Alec for a moment.

Alec’s breath hitched, the twinkle lights played over Magnus’ face, making his eyes shine. Alec couldn’t breathe, lost in memories. How many times had he finally convinced himself to tell Magnus how he felt only for something to get in the way? How many times had he been so sure there was something more between them, that Magnus had to feel the same way – after a late night studying together, after blowing off a party to lay around watching crappy movies –only to convince himself in the morning that he’d imagined it because there was no way it could be real. This was just a story Magnus was telling, it wasn’t the truth but…but what if part of it was?

“Anyway,” Magnus sighed. “Alec moved away after college and we lost track of each other until a few weeks ago. Turns out, he moved back to New York. Specifically, to the apartment across from me.”

Imogen was looking between the two of them with a soft smile but Alec didn’t notice, too busy watching Magnus who told the story with his mouth quirked in a half smile, eyes far away like he was remembering something.

Magnus cleared his throat suddenly. “He helped me carry a Christmas tree, I wowed him with my outrageous flirting and sexy smile, we reconnected and the rest, as they say, is history,” Magnus finished with a flourish.

Alec chuckled, rolling his eyes while his heart pounded along all too quickly.

“Well it was nice to meet you,” Imogen said. “I should mingle but we’ll talk later. Have a good time, you two. Dance, eat, mingle.”

Alec nodded as Imogen turned and left them. Magnus turned in to his side, making Alec’s breath hitch as he looked over at him. “Good story,” Alec said, the words coming out as a whisper.

Magnus looked into his eyes for a minute, one corner of his mouth tilted up, shoulders swaying slightly. “Thanks. I thought so too,” he whispered back before inclining his head. “Care to dance?”

Alec hated dancing. He always felt like an idiot on the dance floor. Yet he nodded without hesitating, heart skipping as Magnus’ smile widened; letting Magnus tug him towards the cleared dance floor.

***

The night passed quickly. They danced and ate. Magnus introduced Alec to some of his old coworkers, briefly catching up, perfecting their story every time he told it. Magnus had worried it would be awkward, bringing Alec here, pretending they were together, but it was easier than he could’ve imagined. Their hands fit together perfectly, they laughed, Alec teased Magnus about ice sculptures, Magnus threatened to make Alec’s party even more ostentatious than this one. And, every time Alec tugged Magnus closer or Magnus entangled their hands, Magnus’ heart gave a loud pounding beat, his pulse thrummed, and he had to stop himself from grinning too widely.

As they twirled around the dance floor for the last time that night, Magnus couldn’t help but step a little closer, resting his head on Alec’s shoulder, both their hearts beating loud and fast. The whole night was filled with possibilities, Magnus could feel them all around, practically taste them. This was what it could be like, if what was between them was real, if they finally decided to take a chance on it.

Magnus was almost positive that night that Alec felt the same about him that Magnus felt about Alec, that he always had. He thought he could probably lean in and kiss Alec, thought Alec would probably kiss back for more reasons than their fake relationship. But, once again, he held himself back. After all, half the fun of a first kiss was the moments before it happened, the lingering stares, sharing breath, so he let himself enjoy that, pulling back to look up at Alec, but he didn’t cross the last bit of distance and neither did Alec. Magnus didn’t want there to be any mistake. Alec thought this, them being there together, was just because of the deal they’d made. When they kissed, he didn’t want there to be any confusion that it was just for some deception. And he didn’t want it to end like the last one had, with one of them running out, one of them moving across the country for six years. If they were going to kiss, Magnus thought, he wanted it to be the start of something more, not just getting caught up in the moment.

Staring up at Alec as the song came to an end, Magnus thought that there would be plenty of time for that, sure that this time, the two of them were finally going to figure things out.

“Do you feel it?” Magnus asked softly.

Alec’s eyes crinkled at the corners when he frowned. “Feel what?” he whispered, breath ghosting across Magnus’ lips as they stayed pressed close.

Magnus was sure Alec could feel his pounding heart but he didn’t care, eyes shining as he said, “The magic of Christmas.”

Alec inclined his head in thought, eyes narrowed. “You know, I do think I’m starting to feel something along those lines,” he joked.

Magnus’ heart skipped and tumbled about as he smiled back at Alec. This was going to be a good Christmas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you feel the love tonight? 
> 
> Thanks for reading, lovelies! You can shout at me on [Tumblr @imawriteriwrite](http://imawriteriwrite.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> Next chapter: Malec. Christmas fluff. Possibly something you'll like. ;)


	6. Tales of Past Loves and Almost Kisses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec and Magnus decorate a Christmas tree among other things.

“I didn’t know places like this actually existed,” Alec commented as they walked through the crowded streets of the Christmas market.

“You’d be surprised at the things you can find when you believe in the spirit of Christmas,” Magnus said, winking.

Alec chuckled, rolling his eyes. The market wasn’t very big, and they’d had to drive two hours to get to it, but Alec couldn’t find anything to complain about. Two hours in a car with Magnus wasn’t exactly a hardship. The market was little more than a dozen or so booths covered in Christmas decorations. Christmas music played throughout, the ground was covered in a light dusting of snow, the air crisp and cool, smelling of gingerbread from one of the nearby stands. There was even a sleigh pulled by two horses giving rides through the park.

“What are we doing here again?” Alec asked, looking around idly as they walked close together, their arms brushing. Magnus had shown up at his apartment early that morning, inviting him along on a Christmas adventure but refusing to tell Alec where they were going. Alec had intended to spend the day writing but Magnus had this crooked smile and his eyes were bright and – and he was Magnus and Alec was weak, basically.

“Having fun,” Magnus said, turning to smile up at Alec as the crowd moved around them. “And looking for decorations for your party. Places like this are great for finding unique decorations.”

Alec raised an eyebrow. “I’ll have to take your word for that.”

“Good,” Magnus smirked. “So we’ll find a few things for the party and then I have a surprise for you.”

“Oh?”

“Yup. Come on.”

***

They lingered at the Christmas market all day, getting lunch at a small restaurant nearby, wandering their way from one booth to the next, eating sweets and drinking apple cider. Magnus found exactly what he’d been looking for and more, picking up a few small gifts for his friends as they wandered around.

Somewhere between the gingerbread stand, picking out decorations, and trying on ridiculous hats at a strange little booth in the back of the market —around when Alec finally took Magnus’ hand that Magnus had been taking every opportunity to brush against Alec’s, Magnus realized it was pointless to try to hold himself back, stupid even. He’d held himself back from his feelings for Alec all through college and where had that left him? Pining for years with nothing but the memory of one measly — okay, it wasn’t by any means measly but still — kiss; always wondering what might have happened if he’d told Alec how he felt, if he’d asked him out, if he hadn’t been so scared that Alec might not feel the same that he didn’t say or do anything at all.

Besides, it was hopeless to pretend he wasn’t right back where he was in college. He kept telling himself that it’d been six years, that they didn’t even know each other anymore, but it didn’t feel like they didn’t know each anymore and he knew himself well enough to know that those were just excuses to protect himself. He didn’t want to protect himself anymore, he didn’t want to be so worried that Alec didn’t feel the same or it wouldn’t work out that he didn’t even try. He wanted to know if this was real or all in his head.

Magnus contented himself with spending the day with Alec, sharing a cup of hot chocolate as they perused a jewelry stand, looking for a present for Isabelle.

Magnus picked up a silver ring, rolling it through his hands before setting it back down. Eyes roaming over the assorted silver and gold jewelry.

“What about this?” Alec asked, holding up a pair of hoop earrings.

“Perfect,” Magnus said, holding his hand out to touch them. “Isabelle will love them.”

Turning, Magnus’ eyes fell on something across the way while Alec paid for his gift. A smirk slowly turned up Magnus’ face.

“What?” Alec asked, noticing the look.

“I think I know the perfect thing to get you in the Christmas spirit, Alexander,” Magnus teased.

Alec raised an eyebrow, turning to follow Magnus’ gaze. Immediately, the small, crooked smile that had been on his face all day fell away, leaving behind a frown. “You’re not serious,” he said, eyes blank, voice emotionless.

“Oh,” Magnus grinned. “I’m completely serious.”

Alec turned to Magnus, eyes wide and pleading. “No,” he said firmly.

“Yes.”

“No,” Alec pleaded. “Anything but that.”

“Come on,” Magnus snorted, grabbing Alec’s hand and tugging him across the market. “It’ll be fun. Stop being such a Scrooge.”

“Maybe I like being a Scrooge,” Alec said, catching and holding Magnus’ hand while refusing to budge even a step. “Maybe I’m meant to be a Scrooge.”

Magnus turned back to him, arching an eyebrow. “I respect your decision to be Scrooge, really, I do,” he said slowly. “But. I drove here and I refuse to go back unless you do this one, tiny thing for me.”

Alec set his mouth in a firm line, glaring at Magnus but Magnus could easily see past the glare to the lurking amusement in his eyes.

Magnus stuck his bottom lip out, batting his eyelashes. “Please? Just a quick picture?”

Alec held out for a moment before sighing. Magnus beamed. “Fine,” Alec said, walking past Magnus, tugging him along by the hand. “But then we’re going on a sleigh ride.”

Magnus followed, eyebrow arched, biting his tongue on a smile. “Is that really something a Grinch should be doing?”

Alec glanced over, frowning. “What?”

Magnus shrugged. “What’s more Christmas-y than a sleigh ride, Scrooge?”

“Maybe it’s not the Christmas-y part of it I’m interested in,” Alec suggested, stopping to stare at Magnus, eyes narrow and intense. “Maybe I just want an excuse to sit close to you and huddle for warmth.”

Magnus came up short, heart skipping, breath hitching. “Oh,” he said softly before clearing his throat. Alec was staring down at him, eyes intent, the smallest smile curving up his mouth. Magnus glanced away and back quickly. He still wasn’t used to Alec being the littlest bit smooth. He liked it, of course, rarely did he find someone who could return his flirting with such skill, but it still caught him off guard sometimes. “I mean, I guess that’s also a good reason for a sleigh ride,” he said, recovering.

“I thought so,” Alec smirked. “Now let’s get this over with so we can move on.”

Magnus grinned, heart skipping around as he tugged Alec forward. It was the perfect timing, night was just beginning to fall, the sun slowly setting as snow began spiraling slowly from the sky once more, and no one was in line for Santa at the moment.

Laughing, Magnus and Alec posed on either side of Santa, letting an elf take their picture.

Santa laughed good-naturedly, asking them what they wanted for Christmas before they could escape.

Magnus looked across at Alec, arching an eyebrow in challenge. “What do you want, Alexander?” he asked, voice low and teasing. “Money? Fame? Wait, you already have that. A boyfriend?” Magnus challenge.

Alec stared back, blinking slowly as he shook his head no. “A pony.”

Santa chuckled.

Magnus rolled his eyes. “A pony? Really? Ask for a dragon at the very least.”

“No thanks, I’m good with the pony,” Alec replied in that same completely serious tone but his eyes were shining bright, rising to Magnus’ challenge. “And you, Magnus? What do you want for Christmas?”

Magnus inclined his head, humming thoughtfully. Feeling his normal confidence, Magnus looked right at Alec as he said, “A cute boy to kiss on New Year’s.”

Alec choked.

“Or a waffle maker,” Magnus continued thoughtfully. “I’ve always wanted one of those.”

Santa was chuckling as they stepped away, their picture in Magnus’ hand. Alec’s face was slightly red though it could’ve been from the cold as snow continued to fall softly around them. Magnus waved at Santa as they walked off, laughing when Santa gave him a thumbs up in return.

“I think I’m going to get what I want,” Magnus laughed. “Santa seemed to like me.”

“Oh? Not on the naughty list this year?” Alec asked, finally recovering though his voice was slightly off, staring at Magnus out of the corners of his eyes.

Magnus snorted, rolling his eyes. “It’s hard to judge, you know. I don’t have Santa’s expertise.”

“That’s too bad,” Alec said, “Wouldn’t want you to not get your…waffle maker.”

“That would be a shame,” Magnus sighed, looping his arm through Alec’s.

“Well, I’m definitely getting my pony,” Alec said, leading Magnus towards the sleigh.

Magnus laughed, shaking his head. “Still think you should’ve asked for a dragon.”

***

The market was getting ready to shut down so they were the last ride of the night in the small sleigh pulled by two white horses through the park that was shining as the bright, multi-colored Christmas lights were turned on.

Alec climbed in first, settling in the seat and pulling the soft, thick blanket over his and Magnus’ laps once Magnus had sat beside him. Magnus sat close, their thighs pressed together though there was plenty of room for more space between them. Alec concentrated on breathing, his heart racing as they started off down the tree-lined path through the small park.

Alec searched for something to say, glancing over at Magnus as the sleigh moved slowly through the falling snow but, as soon as he caught the look on Magnus’ face – wide eyes reflecting the white lights strung through the trees, a soft smile curving up his lips – Alec briefly lost the ability to speak, watching a snowflake fall on Magnus’ cheek, the lights playing across his face as the horses trotted along. Alec’s heart gave a sharp lurch, making it hard to breathe.

Magnus turned to look at him slowly, smile widening just the littlest bit, eyebrow arched in amusement. “Beautiful night, isn’t it?” he asked softly.

Alec swallowed dryly. He’d barely noticed anything beyond Magnus. “Yeah,” he said after a moment. “Beautiful.”

They were still staring at each other ten minutes later when the sleigh delivered them back to the market. Alec reached out before Magnus could move, thumb brushing lightly across Magnus’ cheek. He heard Magnus’ breath hitch and looked back into his eyes.

“There was a stray piece of glitter,” he said, whispering even though he hadn’t intended to.

“Oh,” Magnus said, eyes dark. “Thanks.”

Alec nodded. He thought if they weren’t still in the sleigh with the sleigh driver watching, waiting for them to get out, he’d lean in and kiss Magnus. He really hated the sleigh driver just then.

Finally, Magnus turned away, breaking eye contact as he climbed out of the sleigh. Alec followed with a nod of thanks to the driver, falling in next to Magnus who strolled back through the market, stopping only to buy two peppermint mochas — “To fuel us for the drive home,” he explained.

As they slowly made their way back to the car, both of them obviously walking slower than necessary to draw out their time there, away from the city and everything else.

Alec found himself asking rather suddenly, “So, this Camille…” Alec briefly worried that it wasn’t the right time to bring it up but it was the one thing they hadn’t breached yet, past relationships, and it seemed important if Alec was one day hoping to have a relationship with Magnus.

Magnus sighed. “My ex,” he said without a trace of melancholy. “She’s…well, I hate using this word but she’s a bitch.”

Alec bit his lip on a smile telling himself he was not allowed to be happy about that even though the way Magnus said it made it clear he had no lingering feelings for this woman.

“We dated for nearly a year,” he continued, slowing down as he talked. “I thought I loved her – I mean, I did love her, at least somewhat. She just…wasn’t who I thought she was.” Magnus waved it away. “She cheated on me, a lot. I didn’t know it at first and I was devastated but I got over it. I think… I was more in love with the idea of being in love than with her, you know?”

Alec nodded thoughtfully, slowly processing what Magnus had told him. It was more than he expected. “She didn’t deserve you,” he finally found himself saying.

Magnus looked up at him, mouth quirking up in a smile as he knocked their shoulders together. “Thanks.”

Alec shrugged. “It’s the truth.”

Magnus bit his lip, curbing his smile as they started walking again. Alec watched the snow falling in the trees above them, wondering at how this place felt unreal, somehow removed from the rest of the world, feeling much further than two hours away from Brooklyn.

“What about you?” Magnus asked a few minutes later, voice low in the freezing night. “Any scandalous past relationships?”

Alec snorted, shaking his head. He was tempted to say nothing but felt he owned Magnus the truth after his confessions. “I wouldn’t call any of them scandalous.”

“What?” Magnus gasped. “No rich older men who bought you pretty things? No whirlwind romance with a foreigner? No sweeping heartbreak you still haven’t recovered from?”

Alec laughed, shaking his head. “Sadly, no.”

“Wow,” Magnus sighed. “Seattle must’ve been so boring.”

Alec snorted, shaking his head again. “It was terribly boring,” he teased. “Afterall, there’s no Magnus Bane there to liven things up.”

Magnus rolled his eyes, bumping their shoulders once again. “Fine. Then tell me about your boring relationships.”

Alec opened his mouth about to correct Magnus before realizing that well, they were all kind of boring. Sure, they’d been nice, he’d enjoyed spending time with his ex-boyfriends, he’d at one point thought that all of them might be someone he could love but, at the end of the day… They had all been pretty…mundane when all was said and done.

“They were…nice enough, I guess,” Alec finally said. “I liked the guys, of course, but… I don’t know. They weren’t anything…amazing. Nothing to talk about, really.”

“No?”

“No. I mean, there was nothing wrong with them, we just…never ended up working out.”

“You didn’t love them,” Magnus said in a soft voice.

Alec didn’t even have to think about it before agreeing. “No. I thought I might but… I didn’t.” He shrugged.

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Magnus said. “Some people fall in love all too easily with all the wrong people.”

Alec caught the self-deprecating edge to Magnus’ voice, making him reach out and take Magnus’ hand. “There’s nothing wrong with that either. I mean, eventually you’ll find the right person.”

Magnus’ fingers slid easily between Alec’s, their hands clasped tightly. “You think?”

Alec nodded. “Yeah. Of course.”

They stared for a moment before looking away at the same time. Alec bit his lip on a smile, heart racing as they started walking again. It wasn’t until they were at the car that Alec suddenly remembered something Magnus had said when they arrived at the market that morning.

“Hey, what was the surprise you mentioned earlier?” he asked, looking at Magnus over the top of the car.

“Oh. I forgot,” Magnus said, eyes brightening until he glanced at his phone, checking the time and cursing. He was frowning when he looked back up at Alec. “It’s a little too late tonight, by the time we get back...” he sighed. “I was going to buy you a Christmas tree.”

“Oh,” Alec said, surprised.

“Yeah,” Magnus smirked, opening the car and sliding in. “I knew you wouldn’t buy one yourself.”

Alec hesitated a moment before following. Closing the door and tugging on his seat belt, he glanced over at Magnus, offering, “We could do it tomorrow?”

Magnus arched an eyebrow, surprised. “Yeah?”

Alec nodded. “If you’re free.”

“I’m free. You don’t have to write?” he checked.

Alec shrugged, he had been planning on writing tomorrow, but he was ahead of schedule anyway. “I could take the day off.”

“I thought you didn’t like Christmas trees,” Magnus challenged.

Alec shrugged. “I don’t,” he said even though it wasn’t strictly true. He didn’t really have anything against Christmas trees but that wasn’t why he was agreeing anyway. Magnus could’ve suggested anything and Alec would’ve agreed to it if it meant spending another day with him.

***

“See? Perfect,” Magnus said, grinning as he stepped back to admire the Christmas tree. It was taller than Alec with nice, full branches. It fit perfectly in front of the windows, making Alec’s whole apartment feel warmer. Magnus breathed in deeply, smiling at the fresh scent of pine.

Alec stared at the tree, eyebrow arched comically as he looked it up and down. “It looked smaller on the lot,” he finally said.

Magnus sighed. “It’s a Christmas tree, the bigger the better.”

“Oh, so bigger is better?” Alec asked suggestively.

Magnus snorted. “We’re talking about Christmas trees, get your head out of the gutter,” he said, turning away to hide his smirk.

Alec laughed, reaching out to straighten the tree a bit. “It’s not that bad,” he finally admitted.

Magnus gasped, turning back with his hand held over his heart. “Alexander Gideon Lightwood,” he said. “Are you actually getting into the Christmas spirit?”

Alec looked over at him, mouth quirked into a half smile as he shrugged. His eyes were dark, shining in the dim lighting of his apartment. “Maybe,” he finally said.

Magnus’ heart stuttered for a moment. He bit his lip, shaking his head. “A Christmas miracle,” he snarked.

Alec laughed, heading to the kitchen and turning the coffee machine on. “Coffee?”

“Sure,” Magnus said, following him to stand on the other side of the counter. He checked his phone, rolling his eyes at a group of texts from Clary and Ragnor, both making suggestive comments about how much time he’d been spending with Alec.

“So, what’s next?” Alec asked.

Magnus looked up, raising an eyebrow.

“I assume you intend to do more than just put up a tree?” Alec prompted.

Magnus shrugged, looking back as his phone long enough to tell his friends to shut up, before looking back at Alec, a slow smile taking over his face. “I’m glad you asked.”

***

“Did you really have this many left over ornaments?” Alec asked, shaking his head as he looked from the tree that was already teeming with bright multicolored lights, garland, and dozens of ornaments to the two boxes of ornaments they still hadn’t gone through.

Magnus shrugged. “What can I say? I love Christmas.”

“So you own enough ornaments for seven trees?”

Magnus snorted, shoving Alec lightly as he leaned past him for another ornament. “You’re exaggerating,” he accused, grabbing a small white star ornament. “I have a weakness for beautiful things,” he said, winking at Alec. “So I buy a lot of ornaments. They come in handy for Christmas parties,” he added, shrugging.

Alec inclined his head. “Fair enough.”

They’d spent the last two hours working on the tree, pausing for a long break to order and eat pizza. Alec couldn’t remember anymore why he never did much for Christmas. He had his excuses of course, he never spent Christmas at his apartment so why worry about decorating? He just didn’t get the point of Christmas, it all took so much time just to led up to a day that ended somehow quicker than most. And, sure, there was part of him that still believed that Christmas was overrated but… But, it was fun. Doing all this stuff with Magnus. He could suddenly understand why people made such a big deal out of it. It wasn’t just about the actual day, but everything that led up to it.

It helped that Magnus stood close to him most the night, their sides brushing as they leaned past each other to grab ornaments, hands brushing as they hung them.

A little bit later, Magnus brought spiked eggnog over from his apartment and they went through it quicker than Alec realized, making Alec just tipsy enough to forget to not get caught watching Magnus; making his gaze linger even longer; making him completely unselfconscious as he laughed and made excuses to touch Magnus, brushing a strand of hair from his face, sticking a bow on his head, his hand resting lightly on Magnus’ waist as he leaned past him to grab something. It also made Alec’s heart race, blood on fire anytime Magnus accidentally, or maybe not so accidentally, touched him. Putting a Santa hat on Alec’s head, his breath warm against Alec’s skin as he stepped closer than strictly necessary, laughing as he tugged it down over Alec’s eyes.

Their fingers brushed, lingering when they hung the angel on top of the tree together.

Alec’s breath hitched, eyes locking on Magnus’ as they stood there, close enough for their breath to mingle. Magnus lowered his hand, briefly glancing at the angel to make sure it was straight before looking back into Alec’s eyes, turning slightly so his body was angled toward Alec. Alec swallowed dryly, letting his own hand fall, turning to face Magnus as well; everything seemed to move slower than it actually was.

They stood close enough to the tree for Magnus’ deep brown eyes to reflect the lights of the tree. They were both dressed in their pajamas as Magnus had insisted Christmas tree decorating was to be done in pajamas. Alec had complained until he’d seen Magnus, looking soft in a pair of red candy cane patterned pajama pants and a plain tight black shirt. Now, looking at him, something in Alec’s chest ached. Slightly tipsy from the eggnog, Alec suddenly couldn’t remember why exactly he wasn’t already kissing Magnus.

He wasn’t aware of the time passing as they stood there, breathing the same air, half a foot between them. Magnus’ eyes dropped to Alec’s lips and Alec’s brain short-circuited. Alec shifted closer before waiting. Magnus swallowed, adam’s apple bobbing, eyes dropping to Alec’s lips once again as Magnus shifted closer, mimicking Alec’s gesture. Magnus’ tongue peeked out as he licked his lips. Alec’s resolve cracked. He crossed the last of the space between them, reaching out, wrapping his arm around Magnus’ waist to tug him close against Alec’s body. Alec’s breath hitched, he had no idea what he was doing but Magnus was warm, his hands on Alec’s arms, his eyes wide open, his mouth right there as he leaned in, their lips all but touching.

Alec forgot how to breathe, his free hand resting on Magnus’ cheek as they stared into each other’s eyes. He didn’t know what he was waiting for. His heart was racing wildly, blood rushing through his ears. He wanted to kiss Magnus, it was all he wanted but he lingered a moment, eyes locked, dragging the moment out before letting his eyes close, tilting his head —

Their lips were just about to brush, Alec could feel the air between them burning, when Alec’s phone started blaring from the counter behind them.

Alec jumped back, torn from his eggnog haze abruptly. He looked up, meeting Magnus’ gaze, breathing hard. Magnus’ cheeks were slightly flushed, eyes wide. They stepped back from each other, smiling crookedly.

“I should get that,” Alec said, pulse pounding through his head.

Magnus nodded, clearing his throat. “Right. I’ll make some hot chocolate,” he said. “I think we’ve had enough eggnog.”

Alec laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Right.”

Turning, he picked up his phone, free hand tightening into a fist to stop himself from growling at Jace over the phone for interrupting their moment. He kept the conversation short and sweet, returning to Magnus as he poured them each a cup of hot chocolate.

Alec was suddenly, abruptly completely sober but, despite his worries that things would be awkward, he and Magnus simply stood there, sipping hot chocolate and smiling at each other from across the counter. Alec’s heart skipped about in his chest and he hardly stopped smiling the rest of the night. He and Magnus settled in on the couch, admiring the tree before watching a Christmas movie until late in the night. And, even though Alec didn’t kiss him goodbye like he was tempted to, it still felt like something had changed over the course of the night, leaving him grinning to himself as he shut the door behind Magnus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did mention this is a slow burn, right? Thanks for reading, let me know what you think in the comments! And feel free to yell at me on [Tumblr @imawriteriwrite](http://imawriteriwrite.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> Next chapter has an ugly sweater party and perhaps the moment we're all waiting for? ;)


	7. Ugly Sweaters and Christmas Kisses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus has an ugly sweater party.

“You know,” Alec said thoughtfully, staring down at the cookies he’d just pulled from the oven. “When you invited me over to bake Christmas cookies, I kind of assumed you knew how to do that.”

Magnus shook his head slowly where he stood next to Alec. Reaching out, he poked one of the thoroughly burned gingerbread people. “Maybe they still taste good?” he suggested hopefully.

Alec arched an eyebrow but said nothing.

It was Friday night, the week had passed with them having time to do little more than say hi when passing each other in the hallway so Alec had jumped at the chance to spend the night with Magnus even if it was doing another ridiculous Christmas tradition. They’d been at it for two hours now, Magnus’ kitchen was a wreck with spilled flour and burnt cookies. They’d tried half a dozen recipes and none of them had come out right, some Alec didn’t even know how it was possible for them to turn out how they did, practically melted to the cookie sheet.

“I never actually claimed to know how to do this,” Magnus finally sighed, prying one of the gingerbread people off the baking sheet. “I thought it would be easy, I mean…who can’t bake, right?”

Alec snorted. “Apparently we can’t.”

Magnus pouted. “Really, it’s your fault. I’m just trying to spread the holiday cheer.”

Alec took the cookie from Magnus, scrutinizing it before breaking it in half with a loud cracking sound. “Please, don’t try this on anyone else,” he deadpanned.

Magnus snorted, shoving Alec away. “Shut up, it’s not that bad,” he insisted, taking a bite of the cookie as if to prove his point. Alec watched, eyebrow raised as Magnus attempted to chew it, his mouth turning down in a disgusted frown before he finally turned away, spitting the cookie into the trashcan. “Okay,” he admitted, grabbing the baking sheet and throwing the whole thing in the trash. “That was truly awful.”

Alec bit his lip as laughter bubbled up in his chest, looking around at the disaster of a kitchen while shaking his head. Magnus turned back to him, flour smeared on his cheek, and Alec lost it, the laughter bubbled up and out before he could stop it. He grabbed the counter to stop from falling, laughing so hard that his stomach ached, lungs constricting. It only got worse when Magnus glared at him, folding his arms over his chest in an unimpressed manner.

“It’s not that funny,” Magnus said.

Alec breathed in deeply, standing up and trying to keep a straight face as he gestured to the kitchen around them. Magnus looked around, grudgingly cracking a smile. “Okay, it’s a little funny,” he sighed.

“Really funny,” Alec chuckled, stepping closer to Magnus to brush the flour off his cheek.

“I normally buy cookies at the store,” Magnus admitted softly, eyes locked on Alec’s as Alec’s fingers lingered on his cheek.

Alec swallowed, the urge to laugh dying out as quickly as it’d come. Alec had been thinking about their almost kiss all week, since Magnus left that night. Their lips had just touched when they were interrupted so he didn’t think it really counted as a kiss, but it was enough to make him more sure than ever that he did want to kiss Magnus. He didn’t know why he was still holding back when Magnus was right there, making no move to discourage him, to move away. It was just… Alec was used to this. Dancing around his feelings for Magnus, getting so close to giving in only to pull away. He wasn’t sure he knew how to do anything else at this point.

Alec let his hand drop, stepping back slowly. “We should probably clean up…” he said.

Magnus nodded, clearing his throat. “Right,” he said, searching Alec’s eyes until Alec looked away. “I’m having a party here tomorrow night after all.”

“I hope you weren’t planning on serving cookies,” Alec asked with a forced laugh.

Magnus rolled his eyes. Reaching out, he picked up a pinch of flour and threw it in Alec’s face before he could duck.

“Rude,” Alec said, grabbing his own handful of flour.

Magnus stepped back, hands raised in surrender. “Don’t you dare.”

Alec smirked. “Scared?”

Magnus’ eyes narrowed and he dropped his hands to his sides, shrugging nonchalantly. “Not at all. You won’t do it.”

Alec arched an eyebrow. “Won’t I?”

Magnus was opening his mouth to say something when Alec threw the flour at him. The kitchen fell deadly silent as Magnus sputtered, staring down at his flour covered clothes. “You did not just do that.”

“Revenge is sweet,” Alec shrugged, leaning back against the kitchen counter.

He realized it was the wrong thing to say just a minute later, when Magnus’ mouth turned up in a smirk and he reached for the bag of flour. Alec ducked but it was no use as Magnus poured the flour right over his head. Alec squeezed his eyes shut, shaking with suppressed laughter as the rest of the bag was slowly upended over him.

“Feel better?” he asked, wiping his mouth when Magnus was done. They were standing close again, Magnus’ grin was wide, eyes wider as he stared at Alec in amusement.

Magnus inclined his head, holding his hand up with a small amount a space between his thumb and pointer finger. “A little.”

“Oh. Good,” Alec said sarcastically, stepping closer. Magnus backed up for every step Alec took, clearly trying not to laugh, his mouth pressed in a firm line. “I’m glad.”

“No!” Magnus shouted when Alec lunged for the bottles of colored icing. Alec reached them first, picking up two at random before turning back to Magnus. Magnus grabbed the other two and they stood staring at each other, daring each other to make the first move.

“I’ll never get this out of my hair,” Magnus said, staring sadly at the icing before looking back at Alec.

Alec opened his mouth but before he could say anything, Magnus was aiming the icing right at him, before Alec could react he was being squirted with bright red and green icing.

“Oh. It’s on,” Alec growled, lunging forward, icing bottle aimed for Magnus’ hair.

Icing flew all around as they ran through the kitchen, Chairman Meow running off with a hiss when a splotch of white icing landed on his head.

***

“So,” Magnus said, lingering in the doorway at the end of the night. “Feeling the Christmas spirit tonight?”

Alec snorted, shaking his head that was still covered in flour and icing. They’d spent the last hour cleaning Magnus’ kitchen and even though the night had mostly been a waste and Magnus would have to go out and buy cookies before his party tomorrow, Magnus couldn’t help but think it’d been a good night. Alec looked adorable with icing smeared across his cheekbone and he was far too happy to spend his Friday night making a mess of his kitchen with Alec.

“A little,” Alec finally admitted, shifting closer to Magnus like he didn’t want to leave yet as much as Magnus didn’t want him to.

They stayed there for a moment, watching each other silently. Magnus’ breath hitched when Alec’s eyes dropped to his lips. He swallowed, standing completely still before thinking _fuck it_ and stepping closer to Alec. The hallway between their apartments was dim, the light bulb near the elevator flickering, ready to go out. Chairman Meow watched from his spot atop the couch.

“I’m sure you’ll feel it more tomorrow,” Magnus smirked. “I hope you have a good sweater or I’ll have to uninvite you to the party.”

Alec laughed, eyes flashing bright. “Trust me, I have the perfect thing.”

“Good,” Magnus said, shifting even closer so they were both standing in Magnus’ doorway. Magnus rested his hand on Alec’s chest just above his heart, looking up into Alec’s eyes slowly. Alec seemed to consider him for a moment before ducking his head.

Magnus stopped breathing. He barely processed what was happening, Alec’s lips just barely, lightly brushing across his, sending a shock through his system, when Alec was pulling back. He rested his forehead against Magnus’ for a minute, whispering, “Good night, Magnus,” before pulling back.

Magnus’ heart thudded around his chest. He breathed in sharply, blinking his eyes open slowly to watch as Alec crossed the hall to his own apartment, glancing back over his shoulder once with a small smile before slipping into his apartment. Magnus turned back into his apartment, shutting the door behind himself and staring at Chairman Meow with wide eyes.

“What just happened?”

***

Alec woke the next morning with a grin, his heart feeling light in his chest, the day teaming with possibilities. He wanted nothing more than to go straight over to Magnus’ but he made himself go down to the coffee shop for a bit first. Writing for a couple of hours before grabbing a peppermint mocha to go.

He hesitated outside Magnus’ door, breathing in and out slowly. He wasn’t sure what had inspired him to do what he did last night, or why he hadn’t lingered, hadn’t given Magnus a chance to kiss back, just brushed their lips together, letting their breath mingle before pulling back; he had no idea why he’d done it just that…it’d felt _right_. And now…

Alec breathed out one last time and knocked on Magnus’ door. A smile turned up his face the moment Magnus answered.

“Need any help with the party?” he offered, handing Magnus the coffee he’d brought.

Magnus’ eyes lit up at the sight of coffee. “A Christmas miracle,” he teased, taking the coffee before looking at Alec. He hesitated a moment before stepping back, letting Alec come in. “There’s not much to do,” he said. “But I won’t say no to help.”

They spent the next couple hours cooking and setting up the apartment for the party. Magnus had Christmas music on and regularly took breaks to dance with Chairman Meow which Alec found far too amusing. Alec kept thinking he should say something about the night before but, every time he started to, he stopped, second-guessing himself.

Finally, when he’d had enough of his circling thoughts, as they finished putting the food out and were about to separate to get changed for the party, Alec reached out, catching Magnus’ hand as Magnus stepped past him.

“Magnus…” he started.

Magnus stopped, turning back to him with a curious tilt to his mouth.

“I…” Alec swallowed, closing his eyes for a brief moment before opening them again. His breath got caught in his throat when he realized how close Magnus was suddenly. His eyes dropped to Magnus’ lips, distracting him from his thoughts. It’d barely been a kiss, the night before, but that alone had had Alec’s heart practically stopping in the best way.

“About last night,” Magnus said, voice soft as they stood close, not needing to talk at a normal volume. Magnus turned his hand in Alec’s, entwining their fingers.

Alec’s heart skipped. “Yeah?”

“I—”

Magnus was cut off as the front door opened. Alec dropped his hand, stepping back quickly and clearing his throat. They turned together to find Clary, Jace, Simon, and Isabelle all crowded just inside the door, staring at the two of them with wide eyes.

“Oops,” Simon winced. “We should’ve knocked.”

Isabelle and Jace wolf whistled at the same time.

Alec hung his head, sighing. “I’m going to go get changed,” he said, crossing the room and stepping past them.

“Sorry,” Clary called out.

Alec shook his head, waving her words away while adamantly ignoring Isabelle’s knowing smirk. Was it too much to ask not to be interrupted just once?

***

Magnus grumbled to himself as he got changed into his ugly sweater, cursing his friends and debating replacing them as he fixed his hair and makeup. He was so close to telling Alec how he felt, finally, so close to kissing him again, for real, more than five measly seconds and then —

Magnus sighed. He needed to start locking his door.

Still, as irritated as he was at being interrupted, he couldn’t help the grin taking over his face every time he let his thoughts wander, the same grin he’d been fighting since the night before, when Alec kissed him so softly, like he was worried he might scare Magnus away. Was it possible that, after ten years — four of college and six since — they might finally stop dancing around each other and get their acts together?

Magnus bit his lip, trying to stop his racing heart before going out to finish setting up the party. He could hear Simon and Jace arguing which usually lead to them breaking something. He knew he should hurry but he lingered with his thoughts a moment longer, letting his heartbeat slow. Before the night was over, he told himself, he’d kiss Alec again.

Heading out into the party, Magnus stopped Jace and Simon from ruining the tree, finished mixing up the eggnog, and rolled his eyes at Clary and Isabelle’s teasing.

“What was it you told me at the diner that day? That it was just a crush in college?” Clary asked, head tilted to the side thoughtfully. “That you didn’t feel anything for Alec anymore?”

Catarina, Ragnor, and Raphael had arrived while Magnus was getting ready and easily jumped in the fray. “I am just glad it wasn’t me walking in on them again,” Raphael said, shivering. “One time is more than enough.”

“Oh my god,” Magnus sighed. “Get over it.”

“I wish I could,” Raphael glared. “But alas, I still have nightmares about it. The two of you, lying in bed…”

“Shut up,” Magnus snorted, throwing an empty paper cup at him.

“ _Lying_ in bed?” Isabelle asked. “I thought you were just kissing.”

“Oh, they were,” Raphael nodded. “But they were clearly on the way to more.”

Magnus slammed the cups down on the table with a sharp glare aimed at the room. “Enough,” he growled.

Catarina laughed, throwing her arm around Magnus’ shoulder. “We’re just teasing, darling. We promise we won’t interrupt you again.”

Magnus rolled his eyes, heading to answer the door as another knock sounded. He didn’t know why he was getting so worked up over this it was just… Normally, relationships, emotions, weren’t something he struggled with. He knew how he felt about someone and he acted on it, sometimes it worked out, other times it didn’t but that was that. With this though, with Alec… It was different. Somehow. More important. He wanted this to be more than just a fling and that terrified him. It terrified him that his feelings for Alec, developed over four years, had come back so quickly, so strongly now that they were getting to know each other again and he wanted to give into those feelings, but he wanted it so much that that in itself was frightening.

Magnus shook his head, dispelling his thoughts. This wasn’t like college. They were different, older. They wouldn’t almost hookup and then stop talking to each other for six years. This wasn’t even like Magnus’ past relationships that all seemed to end in disaster because this was Alec, this was…something else entirely. He couldn’t even explain it to himself but he knew it was true.

Magnus spent the next twenty minutes anxiously watching the door for Alec’s return, sipping a glass of mulled wine, rolling his eyes at Catarina’s teasing. He was watching the door so intently, he almost didn’t even notice when it opened and Alec finally stepped through. In the worlds ugliest sweater.

Magnus found himself laughing as his brain processed what he was seeing. Alec’s eyes landed on him, mouth turning up in a smile as he crossed the room to stand before Magnus.

“So?” Alec teased. “Is this ugly enough for you?”

Magnus shook his head slowly, looking over Alec’s sweater before closing his eyes. “I can’t even look at it.”

Alec laughed, the sound low and warm, making something in Magnus soften, heart skipping. “Come on, you know it’s amazing.”

“It’s…certainly something,” Magnus said, opening his eyes again.

Alec’s hazel eyes were wide and bright, twinkling in the lights of the tree. “A work of art,” Alec corrected.

Magnus shook his head, laughing. Alec’s sweater was red and green plaid with the twelve days of Christmas embroidered on it. Not the lyrics, the actual gifts. Across the front were at least a dozen various birds, five golden rings, and a few things Magnus didn’t recognize. The back had ladies dancing, lords leaping, and maids milking among drummers and yet more birds. Magnus wasn’t even sure how it’d all fit on the sweater, but each day was more terrifying than the one before it.

“Oh my god,” Isabelle snorted, coming up next to them. “Since when are you in the holiday spirit, big brother? What happened to being Scrooge and hating Christmas?”

Alec shrugged, glancing at Magnus with a small smile. “I might be changing my mind about Christmas,” he said.

Magnus arched an eyebrow.

Isabelle snorted. “Really?”

“Maybe,” Alec said, still looking at Magnus.

Magnus swallowed, breaking eye contact. He inclined his head towards the kitchen. “Would you like something to drink?”

Alec watched him intently, nodding after a moment. Isabelle waved at them, smirking knowingly. Magnus turned, leading Alec through the apartment, his heart racing, blood pumping, rushing through his ears. Neither of them said anything as Magnus led Alec away from the kitchen, towards Magnus’ bedroom.

***

Alec followed Magnus into his room, struggling to breathe normally. He’d done a lot of thinking when he went back to his apartment to change and he’d realized things only kept interrupting them because they let the moment get interrupted. He wanted to stop that. He wanted… He didn’t know what he wanted exactly but he did know he hadn’t even been back in New York for a month, but he was happier than he had been the last year or more in Seattle. He knew he still liked Magnus as much now as he did in college, maybe more. And he knew that he’d never really liked Christmas but, somehow, that was changing this year.

Magnus shut the door behind them as Alec stepped inside. Alec looked over Magnus’ bedroom slowly, avoiding looking at the large bed in the middle where the Chairman was currently curled up, before turning to look at Magnus who leaned back against the door, staring at Alec with dark eyes.

“So…” Alec said, voice coming out softer than he’d planned.

“I figured we should…talk,” Magnus said slowly.

Alec nodded. “Right. About…last night.” As he talked he took an unconscious step closer to Magnus, voice lower than intended.

Magnus stared at him for a minute, eyes narrowed in thought. He licked his lips before finally sighing and stepping forward. Before Alec knew what was happening, Magnus was grabbing his shirt and tugging him close. Alec’s breath hitched, heart skipping painfully as he reached out, only just stopping himself from falling against Magnus.

They stood there for a moment, foreheads touching, breathing heavily. Alec looked into Magnus’ deep brown eyes, forgetting to breathe. Magnus was the first to move or maybe it was Alec, he had no idea, all he knew was one of them ducked down and leaned in and suddenly their lips were brushing together and, after a moment of lingering hesitation, they were kissing.

Magnus fell back against the door, tugging Alec up against him. Alec’s heart ceased before crashing back into his body, beating rapidly as his blood rushed through his ears. Alec was so shocked at what was happening, it took him a moment to calm down enough to concentrate on what was happening. On the way Magnus’ lips moved against his, tongue slipping out to brush against Alec’s before disappearing again. Magnus’ hand flattened on Alec’s chest where he’d pulled him in by his sweater, his other hand looped behind Alec’s head, holding him close. Alec’s hands were tight on Magnus’ hips, pulse racing as they kissed. He trailed one hand up, cupping Magnus’ face, tilting his head to deepen the kiss. Magnus sighed, mouth opening under Alec’s as he pushed back against Alec, trying to get closer.

It was a messy, fast kiss filled with six years’ worth of wondering what could’ve been, four years of pining, and more sexual tension than Alec had realized existed between them. Magnus moved, turning them so it was Alec’s back against the wall next to the door, taking back control of the kiss. Alec was helpless, knees weak, mind blank as his heart raced. To say it was a good kiss was a massive understatement. Alec could still remember what it’d felt like to kiss Magnus on graduation night and, until that moment just then, it had been the best kiss of his life but this… this was even better.

He pulled back slowly, lingering until he was forced to pull away to breathe. Magnus chased his lips before stopping, eyes opening slowly, pupils blown wide as he searched Alec’s gaze. Alec breathed heavily, fingers flexing on Magnus’ sides. They stayed like that for a minute longer before Alec leaned in, bringing their lips back together softly. The second kiss was slower, filled with the last few weeks of getting to know each other once again, a kissed filled with all the excitement of something new and unique, the anticipation of all the possibilities now waiting for them as they finally, finally, gave into their feelings.

All of Alec’s doubts disappeared as Magnus pressed closer, tilting his head to deepen the kiss, their lips dragging together. A shiver went down Alec’s spine as he opened his mouth, letting Magnus’ tongue in to brush against his. Kissing Magnus, he learned quickly, was everything he’d always thought it would be and so much more.

They didn’t notice how far they’d moved from the door, lost in the kiss. Didn’t hear the door open, someone come to look for them, until the scream. “Really?” Raphael shouted. “Again?”

***

Magnus groaned, pulling away from Alec and glaring over his shoulder at Raphael. “Really, _again?”_ he asked.

Raphael had a hand over his eyes. He flipped Magnus off before stepping out into the hall and closing the door.

Magnus rested his head against Alec’s shoulder, Alec’s arms were still around him, holding him close. Magnus’ lips tingle, his blood was on fire, heart beating rapidly. He couldn’t quite believe what had happened. He turned his head, hiding a smile against Alec’s shirt before looking up at him slowly.

Alec’s eyes were shining with amusement, his lips redder than usual, hair even more of a mess from Magnus running his hand through it.

“You should really start locking doors,” Alec teased.

Magnus rolled his eyes. “Probably,” he agreed, leaning in to brush their lips together lightly before pulling back again. Alec looked slightly dazed after, making Magnus grin.

“Sooo…” Magnus said, voice soft, lips turned up in a smile.

“Good talk,” Alec said, all serious.

Magnus snorted, rolling his eyes. “I thought so,” he whispered, leaning in to kiss Alec softly, lips brushing once, twice, three times before he pulled back and away.

“We should continue this…discussion, later,” Alec said, voice thicker than usual.

Magnus smirked. “I couldn’t agree more.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. So that happened. Wouldn't it be a shame if something were to go wrong now? *insert evil laugh here*
> 
> Thank you for reading and commenting, I love you guys, you're making my Christmas with your nice comments and everything! Remember, you can yell at me on [Tumblr @imawriteriwrite](http://imawriteriwrite.tumblr.com/)!  
> <3<3<3


	8. Christmas Parties and Misunderstandings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, I'm sorry. Second, this is kind of a short chapter but I ran out of time today but I thiiink the next chapter will make up for it. <3<3<3

Magnus woke the morning after his ugly sweater party with a wide grin. He stretched in bed, rolling over onto his back and staring at the ceiling. He felt like he was back in middle school with his first crush. It was a nice feeling. He and Alec had kissed, and it’d been a good kiss, a really good kiss. Possibly the best kiss of Magnus’ life. Christmas was less than two weeks away. His business was flourishing. Everything was good, and he was happy. He stayed in bed a bit longer, soaking up the feeling before getting up to shower.

He and Alec never had gotten around to ‘talking’ again the night before as they’d both quickly gotten caught up in the party, drinking and having fun. But, all night, they’d shared looks, smiling at each other across the room, and small touches, brushing past each other, standing a little closer than necessary. Magnus found himself humming as he dried off and shook his head. He was ridiculous.

Once he was dressed and fed the Chairman, Magnus headed out of his apartment, across the hall, his feet bare. Magnus was about to knock when he realized the door was already cracked open. Magnus paused, inclining his head. He stepped forward, about to knock anyway when Alec’s voice suddenly came to him from inside.

“Stop with the teasing, Isabelle,” he sighed. “Magnus and I…”

Magnus froze, torn between knocking and stepping away. Before he could decide, Alec finished talking. “We’re just friends. There’s nothing between us.”

Magnus’ hand fell just before he knocked, his heart stopped, his blood rushed through his ears, making it hard to hear. Stepping back suddenly, Magnus shook his head, turning and heading across the hall quickly, back to his apartment. He shut the door quietly behind himself, leaning back against it, eyes closed, breathing ragged.

Magnus shook his head. He was an idiot. Of course, this meant nothing to Alec. Alec had kissed him, yes, but that didn’t mean anything. People kissed all the time when it didn’t mean anything at all. Kissing didn’t mean having feelings. Maybe they’d never been on the same page. He was an idiot. All this Christmas nonsense when all it was to Alec was… What? Something fun to do? Nothing more than a fake date to take to his Christmas party?

Magnus pushed away from the door suddenly, feeling stupid for feeling so hurt. It was just a kiss. Of course, it didn’t mean anything.

***

Alec opened his door that morning expecting Magnus and couldn’t quite stop his face from falling when he found Isabelle instead.

“Wow, it’s great to see you too, big brother,” Isabelle snorted, pushing inside and closing the door behind her.

Alec rolled his eyes, tugging her into a hug. “It’s good to see you, Isabelle. I just saw you last night though. What are you doing here?”

“What? Don’t have time for me? Too busy waiting for Magnus?” she teased.

Alec turned away, biting his lip on a smile as he headed to the kitchen to pour himself another cup of coffee. He’d been up since early that morning, he was waiting for a decent time to go over to Magnus’, trying to distract himself by writing for a while.

“Sooo…” Isabelle said, coming to lean on the other side of the counter. “Are you going to tell me everything or what?”

“Tell you everything about what?” Alec asked, pouring her a cup of coffee and sliding it across the counter.

Isabelle sighed, tapping her nails impatiently on the counter. “About you and Magnus, you dummy. I can’t remember the last time I saw you smile as widely as you were when you came out of Magnus’ room last night. What happened?”

Alec glanced away, clearing his throat as he felt himself begin to flush. The memory of kissing Magnus, pressed up against the wall, their tongues brushing, was still fresh, making his heart race and a smile come easily to his face. He was so smitten that it was ridiculous really. It had just been one kiss, one really, truly amazing kiss that he hoped led to more but still, he was getting ahead of himself.

“Nothing happened,” he said, trying to make the words come out firm and calm.

Isabelle snorted. “Nothing happened?” she mocked. “He said while blushing and trying not to grin like a love-sick teenager.”

Alec smiled. “Shut up.”

“Come on, you know you want to tell me,” Isabelle said, leaning further across the counter, eyes shining bright as her hair came out of its loose bun atop her head.

Alec shook his head, staring down at his coffee before sighing. “It was nothing, okay? Or well. Maybe it was something. We kissed,” he finally admitted.

Isabelle squealed, jumping up and grabbing his arm in a tight grip. “Finally!”

Alec rolled his eyes, trying not to laugh. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Are you kidding? It’s the biggest deal! You’ve been in love with Magnus Bane since the first day you meet at NYU. And don’t lie, I know you never fully got over it because every time we talked or saw each other over the last six years, every time, your voice would change and get all weird as you asked about Magnus. Every. Time. You never forgot about him and you always wondered and now, maybe…”

Alec shook his head but felt his mouth turning up in a smile as he grabbed his coffee cup, taking a long drink. “Maybe…” he agreed.

“Sooo… how was it? When are you going out? When’s the wedding? Tell me everything!”

Alec rolled his eyes. “Stop with the teasing, Isabelle,” he said trying to sound firm even while he was still grinning. “Magnus and I…” he paused, searching for the right words. “We’re just friends. There’s nothing between us.”

Isabelle arched her eyebrow, unbelieving.

“Yet,” Alec added, smirking.

Isabelle squealed once again, slapping Alec’s arm lightly. “I knew it! You want it to be something though?”

Alec hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I do,” he said, voice turning softer than he meant for it too.

Isabelle smiled. “I’m happy for you, big brother,” she said, patting his arm before turning back to the door where she’d dropped her bag. “Now I have to run but keep me updated!”

Alec shook his head, fighting back a smile as Isabelle slipped out the door. Alec sighed, staring down at his coffee, his mind across the hall with Magnus.

***

Magnus was stepping out of his apartment, planning on stopping by Cat’s to convince her to go with him to Camille’s party the next night, when he came up short. Of course, Magnus sighed internally as Alec stepped out of his apartment at the same time.

Alec looked up, a smile crossing his face, making Magnus’ heart skipped before he reminded it firmly not to do that. “Hey,” Alec said, locking his door before turning to face Magnus.

Magnus nodded hello, locking his own door and taking a breath before turning to face Alec.

“I was just heading down to the coffee shop,” Alec said, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he looked Magnus up and down, a small frown on his face.

Magnus roused himself, not wanting Alec to know he’d overheard him. “Another day of torturing your characters?” he teased, overly aware of his own voice, slightly harsh, his blood rushing through his ears.

Alec’s lips quirked up in a smile. “Always,” he said, including his head before heading toward the elevator, Magnus falling in beside him. “And you?”

Magnus shrugged. “Just stopping by Cat’s before going to the office.”

“On a Sunday?”

Magnus nodded. “I…have a lot to get done, you know, lots to do before Christmas.”

Alec nodded. “Right.” Reaching out, he pushed the button to call the elevator before turning to Magnus with another one of his small smiles that made it hard for Magnus to breathe. “I was wondering if you wanted to do something tonight? Get something to eat? Watch a Christmas movie or something?”

Magnus glanced away, staring at the elevator as it opened. His mind was working on autopilot. This wasn’t how he’d expected the day to go and he was kind of confused, if Alec didn’t want to be with Magnus like that, if he didn’t think the kiss meant anything, why was he spending so much time with him? Why _had_ he kissed Magnus?

“I would love to,” he finally said. “But I’m just… there’s a lot to do, you know. I’m busy tonight.”

“Oh,” Alec said, pressing the button for the lobby, sounding disappointed despite efforts to hide it.

Magnus frowned. Had he misheard Alec earlier? But no. Not much sounded like ‘Magnus and I are nothing’.

“I understand,” Alec finally said, smiling at Magnus once again. “I know you have a lot going on.”

Magnus nodded. Right. A lot going on. Not really, of course, he was ahead of schedule and he wanted to go out with Alec tonight, spend time with Alec but… But he couldn’t do that, wouldn’t do that to himself, if it didn’t mean anything to Alec. Of course, he wasn’t so petty that he’d stop being Alec’s friend or anything, he just needed a day or two to forget the kiss and then everything could go back to normal.

“What time should we meet up tomorrow, for the party?” Alec asked, letting Magnus exit the elevator first.

Magnus stepped out into the lobby and frowned. “Oh. Right,” he said with no idea where he was going. “I forgot to tell you. I can’t go to the party tomorrow night so… You’re off the hook.”

“Wait. What?” Alec frowned, looking thoroughly confused.

Magnus avoided his gaze, glancing at his phone to check the time. “Yeah. Something came up, I have to skip the party. Look, I have to go, we’ll talk later, okay?”

Magnus headed out the front door before Alec could respond, breathing out deeply as he did. What was he doing?

***

Alec stood in the lobby for a moment, mind spinning. Had he done something wrong? Was Magnus mad at him? Before slow realization sank in. The kiss. Had Magnus… Alec had been sure Magnus wanted to kiss him, Magnus had kissed him back, eagerly but… But maybe he didn’t want it to mean anything. Maybe it was just a kiss. Built up of-of loneliness and — and maybe Magnus had had a crush on Alec back in college, but he now realized how long ago college was and he was over it. Maybe the kiss didn’t mean anything at all to Magnus and he just didn’t know how to break it to Alec…

Suddenly feeling lost and more than a little disappointed, Alec turned back toward the elevator. He’d just write in his apartment for the day.

***

Cat went with Magnus to Camille’s party the next night and Magnus had never been so miserable at a party before. He loved parties, especially ones he planned that went off without a hitch, but he was miserable. He’d been looking forward to this, after the last party he and Alec had gone to, and getting to rub it in Camille’s face that he was with someone as great as Alec — even if it wasn’t real. But instead, he spent the night nursing a stiff drink, standing in the corner with Catarina, mocking the party goers and grudgingly making small talk when he was forced.

“Magnus, darling,” Camille said, leaning in to kiss Magnus on both cheeks as she strode up to where he stood. “Lovely to see you,” she said with a vicious smile. She arched her eyebrow as she looked from Magnus to Catarina and back. “Where’s the new special someone?” she asked in her cruel voice.

Magnus sighed, rolling his eyes. “He was busy,” he said in a bored tone, staring out over the large, bustling party. He should be proud, he knew, it was easily one of his best parties, and every year this party never failed to bring in more business, but all he could think was how much more fun it would be if Alec were there. Why’d he have to kiss Alec and ruin everything?

“I came to keep him from being bored to death,” Catarina put in with a catty smile. “And make sure the vultures weren’t swarming about him. His boyfriend gets easily jealous.”

“Oh. I’m sure,” Camille smirked, waving her fingers at them in goodbye before turning and heading off with an extra swing to her hips.

Magnus rolled his eyes, downing the rest of his drink. “What did I ever see in her?”

“I have no idea, _darling_ ,” Cat mocked.

Magnus snorted, turning to the open bar for another drink. For the first time in a long while, he was not feeling the Christmas spirit.

***

Alec was up late, sitting on the couch, nursing yet another cup of coffee as he made his way through an intensely emotional scene in his book when he vaguely registered a sound in the hallway outside. Alec was used to working silence so, when he was hyped on so much coffee and so little sleep, it was easy enough to pick out sounds in the hallway. He didn’t pay it any mind until he heard someone drop their keys, followed by Magnus’ muffled cursing.

Frowning, Alec set his laptop aside, standing and moving to his door. He felt a little sleazy for it but peered out the peephole to see Magnus all dressed up in a dark suit and a red shirt, fumbling with his keys. Alec turned away before Magnus got his door open, frowning to himself. He’d thought Magnus had been working but he sure looked like he was dressed for a party. Did that mean he’d found another date or just hadn’t wanted to go with Alec anymore?

Stomach clenching, chest suddenly feeling empty, Alec returned to the couch, pulling his laptop close again. He swallowed dryly, shaking his head. He’d talk to Magnus tomorrow, make sure they were still good. Did Magnus feel so weird about the kiss that he’d had to lie to get out of going with Alec to the party?

Staring at the Christmas tree standing off in front of the windows, Alec smiled softly, remembering the night they decorated it. He reminded himself that this, what he felt between them, was real. If Magnus had gone to the party by himself, it was probably just a last minute thing. He didn’t regret the kiss. They just…needed to talk. He really hoped Magnus didn’t regret the kiss. It was Christmas and, for the first time, Alec was starting to believe in the magic of it. He knew that was because of Magnus and if he had to show Magnus the same thing then he was fine doing that. As long as Magnus didn’t regret the kiss, everything would be fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise this misunderstanding won't last long - it's Christmas after all! Thank you for reading and you can yell at me on [Tumblr @imawriteriwrite](http://imawriteriwrite.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> Next chapter will include...things. Including Alec making his own Christmas magic plan. ;)  
> <3<3<3


	9. Gingerbread Houses and Confessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus and Alec build a gingerbread house and talk things out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading and commenting, you're truly making my Christmas amazing. <3

Wednesday night, less than a week before Christmas, Magnus found himself lying across his couch, staring up at the ceiling. He was trying to talk himself into going to the diner or ordering in food but he’d been putting the final touches together for Alec’s Christmas party/housewarming so, of course, his mind kept turning back to the man across the hall, distracting him from everything else.

Magnus had successfully avoided Alec the last few days but he knew that couldn’t last long. Friday night would be Alec’s party, two days later was Alec’s parents' party that Magnus had already agreed to go with him too, and then it was Christmas Eve and Christmas.

Magnus sighed. Where did his Christmas spirit go?

He was being an idiot, he knew. Avoiding Alec. Being all mopey. It was Christmas. He loved Christmas. He should get over himself, get over Alec. Fed up with himself, Magnus pushed off the couch, slipping his shoes on and grabbing his coat, heading out of the apartment before he could talk himself out of it. Locking the door behind him, he ignored his next-door neighbor, who opened her door to glare at Magnus like he’d slammed his door when in reality he’d barely made a sound.

“Merry Christmas,” he said, inclining his head towards her as he walked to the elevator.

Magnus was just about to hit the button to call the elevator when it opened, revealing none other than Alexander Gideon Lightwood.

***

“Hey,” Alec grinned when his eyes landed on Magnus. His heart skipped as he took in the sight of Magnus in a long black jacket that was far too thin for the cold New York night, with a red knit cap that he wore far too well, and a bright scarf.

“Nice scarf,” Alec teased, reaching out and pulling lightly on the end of the dark blue scarf embroidered with Christmas trees.

Magnus rolled his eyes, smirking slightly as he said, “Thanks.”

Alec smiled, still holding the edge of the scarf. He hadn’t seen Magnus in a few days, since the night they were supposed to go to Camille’s party together and Magnus went without him. Alec frowned, still confused over that. It felt like Magnus was pulling away and he didn’t know why. Was the kiss really that bad? Because it hadn’t felt bad to Alec, not even a little bit.

“I guess you were probably going somewhere,” Alec finally said, stepping out of the elevator just before it could close, brushing past Magnus.

“Right,” Magnus said, stepping onto the elevator. “See you tomorrow?”

Alec smiled, nodding as the elevator doors slid closed. He sighed, heading towards his apartment with a small wave at Magnus’ next door neighbor who was watching him with her door just cracked.

Alec felt off somehow, opening his door and stepping into his cold apartment. He flipped the lights on, staring at the Christmas tree for a minute. He wasn’t sure what was going on between him and Magnus, but it didn’t feel… Right, anymore. It didn’t feel like it had the night they decorated the tree. Not wrong in that they didn’t work, wrong in that they didn’t seem to be on the same trajectory they were just a few days before. Wrong in that they’d finally, finally, kissed and now it felt… like Magnus was avoiding him. Instead of moving forward, they’d ground to a sudden halt and Alec didn’t know why.

Church came down the stairs then, yowling up a storm.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m coming,” Alec called. He really needed to ask his agent when she was taking the cat back. Following Church into the kitchen, Alec fed him, checking his water dish before grabbing his laptop and setting up at the counter for the night. He wanted to finish the chapter he’d been working on before he headed out to spend the night with Jace and Izzy. Instead of writing though, he found himself staring off into space, wondering what he could’ve done to make Magnus go cold. Had he said something? Done something? How could he fix it? Ideas had been brewing in his mind the last few days but he hadn’t had time to put any of them into motion.

Church finished eating and hopped up on the counter next to Alec, a giant gray fluff ball with beady demon eyes that started purring the moment Alec touched him. Alec shook his head, despite himself, he was getting used to the ornery cat.

“What do you think, Church? Should we ask him out?”

Church looked at Alec, thoroughly unconcerned.

“Should we attempt to restore his Christmas cheer?” Alec tried.

Church purred louder which Alec took as a yes.

***

Thursday night, Magnus came home from work, only to run into Alec in the lobby, where he was checking his mail. Magnus rolled his eyes, cursing the universe. He debated skipping checking his own mail and slipping into the stairway to avoid Alec but that seemed excessive. Clearly avoiding Alec wasn’t working and really, it was stupid. He didn’t want to avoid Alec. Just because things couldn’t be exactly what Magnus had wanted, had hoped for them to be, didn’t mean they couldn’t be good. Magnus thought back over the last couple weeks, having Alec back in his life, even as just a friend, was nice. More than nice. He wasn’t going to be so petty that he ruined that.

Stepping into the mail room, Magnus offered Alec a sheepish smile, rolling his eyes as Alec smirked at him.

“Fancy running into you here,” Alec said, closing his mailbox and turning to lean against the wall, waiting for Magnus.

“We must stop meeting like this,” Magnus said, playing along.

“Couldn’t agree more,” Alec said.

Magnus looked up from flipping through his mail to find Alec looking at him with a curious look on his face, biting his lip on a smile, eyes shining. Magnus’ heart skipped and he quickly looked away.

“Oh? And how do you suggest we avoid these meetings?”

“Not avoid, merely…tweak.”

Magnus looked up, closing his mailbox and arching an eyebrow.

Alec smirked. “I was going to stop by your place to talk to you but since you’re here… Have dinner with me,” he said. Magnus froze. “Tonight. I have this thing I have to do, a few of my…colleagues, I guess you’d call them, they invited me to take part in some kind of annual gingerbread house competition. I could use some help?”

Magnus hesitated, mind spinning. It wasn’t a date, that was clear. Just two friends, hanging out, making a gingerbread house. Magnus fought his instinct to be petty and say no, mouth quirking up in a teasing smile. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? You and me and…cookies,” he snorted.

Alec laughed, shaking his head, eyes locked on Magnus’. “I’m sure it will end terribly,” he said. “But that’s half the fun, right?”

Magnus considered him a moment before nodding. “Yeah. I guess it is.”

***

Magnus was right. The combination of the two of them and cookies just seemed doomed to end badly. Alec had watched a few videos, so he thought he knew what he was doing but it quickly became apparent that he was wrong.

“Maybe I should’ve listened to Isabelle and just bought a kit,” Alec suggested, poking at the gingerbread pieces that had just come out of the oven. They weren’t burnt per say… Just a little overdone.

“It’s fine,” Magnus said, though he didn’t sound sure. When Alec looked over, he found Magnus clearly trying not to laugh as he looked over the crooked, overdone pieces. “The icing will hide that it’s overcooked,” he added a bit more confidently.

Alec inclined his head, eyes roaming over all the decorating supplies he’d gathered, various colors of icing and sprinkles, gumdrops, peppermints, and candy canes among various other things. “I really hope you’re as good at decorating a gingerbread house as you are with other types of art.”

Magnus frowned, tilting his head from side to side. “It can’t be that hard right? Art is art. Decorating is decorating.”

Alec nodded. “Exactly,” he said firmly. They looked from the supplies to each other, eyes meeting and laughter immediately flowing. “This is going to end terribly,” Alec said between laughing and clutching at his side. “How did this even happen?” he asked, picking up what was supposed to be one of the walls to the house and had turned out all kinds of crooked and smaller than the other three sides.

Magnus chuckled, shaking his head. “I have no idea. Maybe our recipe was bad?” he offered, picking up one of the roof pieces that was burned on the outside but nearly raw towards the middle.

“Or maybe we’re just completely awful at this?” Alec replied before sighing. “I’m never going to be able to make fun of Isabelle for being a terrible cook again.”

“Maybe it runs in the family?”

“Yeah?” Alec asked, turning to look at Magnus, eyes shining. “Then what’s your excuse?”

Magnus glanced up at him, smirking, eyes dark and sexy. “I’m already good at so many things, Alexander. It’d be unfair if I was good at baking as well.”

Alec snorted, rolling his eyes, hand brushing against Magnus’ side as they stood close together. Their gazes lingered a moment longer before Magnus turned away, clearing his throat. Alec studied him for a moment, trying to figure out what it was he kept doing wrong. He opened his mouth to say something when Magnus interrupted. “Well, this house isn’t going to put itself together.”

***

“Is the contest for the worst looking gingerbread house?” Magnus asked, staring at their creation after a couple hours’ worth of work. They had some structural issues that delayed decorating, but the house finally at least stood up even if it wasn’t quite straight. “Because in that case, we are definitely winning.”

“I’ll have to check,” Alec said, frowning as he scrutinized their gingerbread house. It was tilting dangerously to the side, the icings mixed to form one color, melting together along the sides of the house.

“It could be worse,” Magnus pointed out. “Sure, the house is slightly crooked; and the walls are leaning heavily against each other to stay together; the roof looks to be seconds away from collapse and the people out front looked a little demented,” Magnus pointed out. “But…it’s charming.” Magnus finished as the roof silently collapsed. Like that was the last straw, the left wall snapped in half and the rest fell apart like it’d been blown over by the big bad wolf.

Magnus bit his lip, trying not to laugh. “Well,” he said, breathing steadily to keep control. “Now it can’t possibly get any worse.”

Like he heard the challenge, Church suddenly jumped on the table, crushing what remained of the house under his paws.

“I — I’m going to stop talking now,” Magnus said, turning away with a hand over his mouth, breathing deeply as the laughter tried to force its way out. Magnus closed his eyes and lost it, picturing the completely destroyed gingerbread house that they’d just spent three hours slaving over. Magnus closed his eyes, laughing so hard it brought to tears to his eyes, turning into Alec as he tugged Magnus close, rubbing his back and making soothing sounds as Magnus continuing to laugh.

“There, there,” Alec said. “Let it out.”

Magnus choked on a laugh, shoving Alec away. He looked to Church who was idly cleaning his icing covered paw, letting out a last laugh as he shook his head. “I’d say I told you so but, really, I didn’t think it would turn out quite this bad.”

Alec sighed, shooing the cat away before picking through the wreckage. “Go again?” he asked.

Magnus snorted but Alec looked over at him, completely serious. At some point over the last few hours, Magnus had forgotten to feel hurt and disappointed, getting lost in how good it felt to spend time with Alec. That was why he rolled his eyes, saying, “Second times the charm?”

***

Alec moved more slowly this time, carefully measuring everything before mixing the gingerbread and putting it in the oven, spread out in two large batches across two cookie sheets. He worked on straightening up the mess they’d made while the new batch cooked, refusing to step away from the oven for too long, in case they decided to burn once again.

Alec stepped up to Magnus as he did the dishes, insisting once again that Magnus didn’t have to do that as he took the clean ones from Magnus, drying them off.

Magnus shrugged. “I don’t mind, you did buy me dinner after all,” he said with a wink. “Besides, this is…fun.”

“Who doesn’t enjoy making terrible gingerbread?”

“Exactly,” Magnus laughed.

Alec’s heart ricocheted around his chest as he thought now was the time to talk. About the kiss. About what was happening between them. Before he could figure out what to say though, Magnus was talking.

“Remember that time, in college, when we were up late studying for finals and Simon showed up with like six dozen sugar cookies?”

Alec’s eyes went wide, he’d forgotten all about that. “And we ate them all,” he laughed, nodding. “Everyone else fell asleep and you grabbed two of the boxes, forcing me out into the cold—”

“Hey! You wanted to go,” Magnus laughed.

Alec shook his head. “And we sat outside in the cold, eating cookies and quizzing each other.”

“You earned a cookie for every right answer,” Magnus said like it made complete sense.

“I haven’t eaten a sugar cookie since that night,” Alec snorted, shaking his head at the memory.

“No? Really?” Magnus asked, turning to Alec like he was crazy.

“I nearly died!”

Magnus rolled his eyes. “You’re being dramatic. We passed our finals, remember? It was all because of the cookies.”

Alec bit his lip, shaking his head. He did remember now but he hadn’t passed his finals because of the cookies, he’d passed because the night before, when he’d panicked that he was going to fail, Magnus had stayed up with him for hours, going over everything again. Alec swallowed, glancing down at the bowl he was drying. A comfortable but tense silence fell over them. Not a bad tense just…the feeling of there being something they were avoiding, lingering in the air.

“What about spring break, senior year?” Alec asked to break the silence.

Magnus snorted. “We had it all planned out, we were going to have the best spring break, do it right.”

“And instead we barely left my dorm, ordering pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”

“But,” Magnus said, turning to Alec with a victorious grin. “We did watch an impressive number of movies that week.”

Alec smiled at the memory. It’d been a good spring break, the best, because he and Magnus had spent the entire week laying around on Alec’s bed, barely leaving the dorm. Alec suddenly remembered the last night, they’d rented some superhero movie and ordered in Chinese food and there was a moment as they fought – literally fought, rolling around on the bed, pushing each other away, laughing the whole time – over the last egg roll. And there’d been a moment where Alec had been so close to kissing Magnus. Magnus had landed on top of him, both of them breathing heavily, the eggroll all but forgotten. Alec remembered he could barely breathe and then — and then Isabelle had shown up and the moment had passed.

Alec looked over at Magnus now, catching the soft smile on his lips, wondering if Magnus was remembering the same thing he was.

Alec swallowed dryly, licked his lips, getting up the courage before finally admitting. “You know…” he said, softly. “I… Had the biggest crush on you in college.”

Magnus froze next to Alec, body stiff. He stared down at the baking sheet he was washing before looking up slowly. His eyes were wide and blank as he searched Alec’s face. Alec held his breath, waiting. Finally, Magnus laughed, shaking his head and turning back to finish the last of the dishes. “We were really something, huh? Dancing around each other for four whole years only to kiss and —” Magnus cleared his throat. “Kiss on graduation night and not see each other for another six years.”

Alec laughed softly, nodding. He wasn’t sure, but he thought maybe Magnus was admitting he had a crush on Alec as well. The only question was, did he still like Alec? Or had that kiss made him realize he didn’t actually want this?

“Yeah. We were kind of stupid.”

Magnus nodded. Turning the sink off as he rinsed the last dish.

“If only Raphael hadn’t walked in on graduation night,” Alec said, voice low as he stared at the plate he was drying off. He looked up slowly when Magnus didn’t immediately reply, finding Magnus staring at a spot over Alec’s shoulder thoughtfully.

Eventually, he sighed. “I still would’ve left for vacation,” he said softly, turning to look at Alec. “And you still would’ve gone to Seattle. It’s probably better that he found us when he did.”

Alec swallowed before nodding. “Yeah,” he said. “You’re probably right.” But he wasn’t so sure. He’d gone to Seattle because he had no reason not to. Lydia was going and Alec was tired of fighting his parents expectations and there wasn’t really any reason to stay. But… But maybe he would’ve stayed if they hadn’t been interrupted. If they’d slept together, if they’d actually talked and admitted their feelings. If he hadn’t been convinced that Magnus had just been drunk and regretted the whole thing.

The world shifted around Alec, leaving him feeling off balance as he looked back at Magnus. Were they just going to let history repeat itself? Never admit how they really felt and just let this drift away again so that a month from now they’d barely be speaking? Alec really, really didn’t want that.

“Magnus, I—” Alec started when the timer went off.

Magnus glanced away, heading to the oven. “I’ll check them.”

Alec sighed, tossing the towel he’d been using to dry dishes down and leaning against the counter. The universe was not making this easy for him.

***

“What’s your favorite thing about Christmas?” Alec asked suddenly, surprising Magnus.

Magnus arched an eyebrow, thinking as he continued carefully icing the roof of their small, practical gingerbread house. They’d continued reminiscing and laughing, getting as much icing on each other as they did on the gingerbread house, but things had been lighthearted as they carefully avoided heavy subjects. Magnus hated it, hated pulling away from Alec when it was the last thing he wanted to do. He wanted to forget that he’d ever overheard Alec and go back to how things were but he couldn’t quite seem to do that.

Magnus shrugged, looking up from the roof slowly. “I don’t know if I have a favorite thing,” he finally said. “I just… I like it all. Planning the parties, eating the food. Buying presents for the people I love. Spending time with the people I love. The decorations, the snow,” Magnus said, smiling softly as he went back to the gingerbread house. “This.”

Alec smiled at the top of Magnus’ head. Reaching out, he brushed a smudge of icing off Magnus’ cheek, making Magnus breathe in harshly.

“And yours?” Magnus asked, staring up at Alec. “What’s your favorite part of Christmas, Scrooge?”

Before Magnus knew what was happening, Alec was leaning closer, his lips just brushing Magnus’, eyes half closed as he whispered, “You.”

Alec lingered, not quite kissing Magnus, giving him the chance to lean in or pull away. Magnus knew he should pull back but he wasn’t exactly thinking straight. His hand, that was covered with icing, slid into Alec’s hair, pulling his mouth flush against Magnus’. Magnus’ brain short-circuited the second their lips touched, something akin to electricity flowing between them. Their lips brushed together softly, tongues tangling. Magnus dropped the icing he was holding, growling lowly when he realized the kitchen counter was in his way of getting closer to Alec. They kissed across the counter, a fast, toe-curling, breath-stealing kiss that made Magnus doubt everything he thought he knew because you didn’t kiss like this if it didn’t mean anything.

Magnus pulled away suddenly, breathing heavy, eyes flying open to see Alec looking slightly stunned, a soft smile curling up his mouth as he opened his eyes.

“Magnus, I—”

Magnus shook his head, stepping away from the counter and turning his back on Alec. “I should go,” he said, heart racing painfully, hands shaking.

“What? Wait,” Alec called, hurrying around the kitchen counter. “Why?”

Magnus closed his eyes, breathing in deeply.

Alec stepped closer but left a little distance between them, hand outstretched to touch Magnus but just hanging there, waiting for a sign that he was allowed too.

“Did I—” Alec paused, clearing his throat. “Magnus, please. If I did something wrong, just tell me.”

Magnus shook his head. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Alec hesitantly stepped closer, around Magnus. Magnus looked up, heart sinking at the look of confusion in Alec’s eyes, the hurt expression on his face sending a pang through Magnus’ chest.

Alec searched Magnus’ eyes, frowning. “Did we get our signals crossed or something?”

Magnus narrowed his eyes in confusion before shaking his head. Honestly, he’d rather not do this just then but it didn’t seem like he had any choice. It was for the best, he thought. They could get on the same page and just…be friends. No kissing. No anything else. Things only got complicated when you added kissing to the mix.

“Are you sure?” Alec asked, raising his hand to touch Magnus before letting it fall again. He rubbed his fingers together, eyes crinkling as he tried to think of what to say. “Because ever since the other night, the ugly sweater party, things have been different, haven’t they? Between us?”

Magnus shook his head again, trying to figure out how to explain it without admitting having overheard Isabelle.

“Did I do something?” Alec insisted.

“No,” Magnus said, growing frustrated. He didn’t know how to say what he wanted to say and he wasn’t used to that, he always knew exactly what to say. What was it about Alec that made him forget that? “It’s not you. It’s just. We’re not on the same page about this so we should just... stop.”

“Same page?” Alec asked slowly, clearly still confused.

Magnus sighed, nodding. “Yes. We want different things.”

“We do?”

“Yes,” Magnus insisted, waving his hand in frustration.

Alec stepped forward suddenly. Magnus’ breath caught in his throat and he took a half step back, looking up at Alec whose eyes were narrow and intent, mouth turned down slightly at the corners, eyes on fire. “Really?” he asked, voice low but word forceful. “Because I want to kiss you, I’ve wanted that since college, and I thought you wanted to kiss me too.”

Magnus forgot to breathe. Glancing away, he cleared his throat, nails biting into his palms lightly to ground himself. “Okay. Yes,” he admitted. “But it doesn’t mean the same thing. It’s just. Complicated.”

“Do you not want to kiss me?” Alec frowned before quickly taking a step back and adding. “It’s okay if you don’t. I mean, of course, it is. We…can be friends.”

Magnus sighed, rubbing his forehead as his head began to hurt. “It’s not that I want you to stop kissing me…”

“Good.”

“It’s just…complicated,” Magnus said again.

Alec shuffled a half step closer, reaching out to put his hand on Magnus’ arm when Magnus didn’t pull away. “It doesn’t have to be. I like you, Magnus. I’ve liked you for a long time now. I don’t think I ever stopped. And we’re here in New York together at Christmas. And what I want more than anything is to see what’s always been here between us. See if it’s what I think it is.”

Magnus stopped breathing. “But. You said we were just friends.”

Alec frowned. “When did I say that?” Like a light bulb going off, Alec’s eyes cleared, his mouth falling open. “To Isabelle? You heard that?”

“I was going to knock,” Magnus quickly explained. “But the door was open and I didn’t mean to but I heard.”

Alec laughed, shaking his head, a look of endearment on his face as he shifted closer to Magnus. “Yeah, well, clearly you didn’t hear the part where I said we weren’t anything more than friends... _yet_.”

Magnus froze, looking up slowly. “Yet?”

“But that I hope we can be soon,” Alec finished. He swallowed, adam’s apple bobbing. Magnus’ brain turned slowly like his world had suddenly been flipped upside down.

“You remember graduation night,” Alec said once again. “In the hotel room when we almost… And earlier, when I told you I had a crush on you in college, that was true. It was all true. I’ve thought about that night for the last six years, wondering what would’ve happened if it’d turned out differently. And my crush? Never once went away. I’ve regretted that moment, on graduation night, when I left, for the last six years,” Alec said, every word ricocheting around Magnus’ head. Alec paused, licking his lips, staring down at Magnus. “I don’t want to have any regrets this time.”

Magnus swallowed dryly, nodding slowly. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh,” Alec smirked. “Didn’t you read my books Magnus?” he teased. “You never get the full story when you overhear something.”

“I see that now.”

“Good,” Alec nodded, smiling softly. “I like you, Magnus, I want _you_. The only question is, what do you want?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Magnus' response, coming up next!
> 
> Thanks for reading lovelies, comments and kudos are life and you can also yell at me on [Tumblr @imawriteriwrite](http://imawriteriwrite.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> <3<3<3


	10. Mistletoe and Boyfriends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus and Alec talk.

Magnus stared at Alec, blinking slowly. His mind was used to running quickly so it hadn’t taken long for Alec’s words to seep in and Magnus to realize how stupid he’d been. He was torn between laughing and lunging forward to kiss Alec.

What did he want? That was easy enough. It was the same thing he’d wanted for what felt like forever. What he’d wanted since the day he met Alec.

Giving in to his gut instinct, Magnus stepped closer to Alec, ignoring the fact that they were both still covered in flour and sugar and icing as he pressed their foreheads together, one hand on the back of Alec’s neck, the other tangled in Alec’s shirt.

He stared into Alec’s eyes for a minute, searching them, before answering, “ _You_.” He waited just long enough to see the big, goofy smile cross Alec’s face before bringing their lips together. Magnus’ heart felt lighter and he smiled into the kiss as Alec cupped his cheek. Alec tasted of chocolate and wine that they’d been sipping and eating while decorating the second gingerbread house, his lips fitting perfectly against Magnus’ as they pressed close together, breathing each other in, lips moving soft and slowly together.

When Magnus pulled away, both of them were thoroughly breathless, smiling ridiculously wide smiles at each other as they stayed pressed close.

Magnus’ eyes dimmed slightly as it occurred to him that he’d misread everything the last few days. “I’m sorry,” he said, voice soft as he looked back at Alec.

Alec tilted his head, confused. “What for?”

“Accidentally overhearing you and assuming the worst,” Magnus said, wincing.

Alec shrugged, sliding his hand back through Magnus’ hair and bringing him in for another soft kiss that Magnus immediately gave in to. “There’s nothing to be sorry for,” Alec said, pulling back again. “I would’ve done the same thing. After so many years dancing around this… I was almost used to it. It’s weird, giving in.”

Magnus nodded, agreeing. He tilted his head, bringing their mouths back together once more. Part of him couldn’t believe this was real even now. Part of him still couldn’t even believe Alec was back in New York after so many years, let alone that the last few weeks were real, that, after so many years of trying to forget Alec and get over him, he was back. More than that, he liked Magnus and always had.

“A good weird,” Magnus said between kisses.

“A very good weird,” Alec agreed.

Smiling into the kiss, Magnus ran his hands down, past Alec’s shoulders, over his chest, before wrapping his arms around Alec’s waist, hugging him close, their mouths never separating. It wasn’t a rushed kiss but a soft, achingly sweet kiss that had Magnus’ pulse beating steady, heart pounding and content. He was barely aware of anything around them, his full attention on Alec’s lips sliding against his, their tongues brushing as they stood in the middle of Alec’s apartment, the half-constructed gingerbread house completely forgotten.

One thought stood out clear in his mind as he lost himself to Alec’s kiss; this was all he’d ever wanted.

***

Alec could spend the rest of the night, the rest of his life, standing there, kissing Magnus and feel like he hadn’t missed out on anything, he’d be completely content. So, when Magnus pulled back, Alec couldn’t help the small whining sound in the back of his throat as he chased Magnus’ lips, only half opening his eyes.

Magnus laughed, letting Alec draw him back in for a minute before pulling away again. “Breathing is good,” Magnus said, out of breath.

“True,” Alec agreed, pressing a soft kiss to Magnus’ lips. “But kissing is better.”

Magnus snorted but leaned back in when Alec started to pull away, tugging him back close for another kiss.

“We should probably talk,” Magnus said the words against Alec’s lips. Alec hummed, agreeing, bringing their lips back together in a deep, soul quenching kiss.

“And the gingerbread,” Magnus added a few minutes later, voice hoarse as Alec’s lips trailed down his jaw to his neck and back up to his mouth, lingering before pulling back.

Alec nodded. “Right. The gingerbread.” He rubbed his thumb across Magnus’ cheek, wiping away a smear of flour that was there, staring into Magnus’ dark eyes.

Magnus dropped his hands to Alec’s hips, still holding him close. Alec ran his hands up and down Magnus’ arms, watching closely, unable to stop the wide grin from crossing his face. Magnus’ eyes shined.

Magnus shook his head slowly before rolling his eyes. “We’re ridiculous,” he said, wrapping his arms around Alec’s neck and bringing him into another bruising kiss.

Alec couldn’t argue with that, not that he would even if he could, too distracted by Magnus’ lips and tongue. Alec could still remember being eighteen years old and meeting the boy who lived in the dorm next to his for the first time, the beautiful, whip-smart boy who introduced himself to Alec with a soft smile and a firm handshake, his shoulders swaying as he looked Alec up and down slowly. Could perfectly conjure the image of Magnus cracking a wide smile as he introduced himself. Alec’s heart had skipped about his chest quite suddenly, taking him off guard. That was all it had taken for Alec – who had only just started to be okay with his own sexuality – one smile and he was a goner. Over the next four years, it only got worse and worse. Now, here he was, ten years later, finally kissing Magnus Bane like he’d always wanted too. It was even better than his eighteen-year-old self had ever imagined it would be.

***

“Good talk,” Magnus said, out of breath, heart racing, when they finally pulled apart again.

Alec snorted, nodding, hazel eyes wide and soft. “Very good,” he agreed.

Magnus laughed, finally pulling away from Alec. He didn’t particularly want to but he also knew what would happen if they didn’t stop kissing now and he thought that they didn’t want to rush things quite that much even if it had been ten years in the making.

“So…” Alec said.

“So,” Magnus parroted, smiling.

Alec rolled his eyes. “This… Us…”

“This? Us?” Magnus repeated, biting his lip on a laugh when Alec threw his head back and groaned. Magnus stepped closer, sliding his hand into Alec’s, their fingers entwining perfectly. “It’s…nice, right?” he asked softly, looking up at Alec from beneath his lashes.

Alec swallowed, Adam’s apple bobbing. “Yeah,” he said, nodding. “Really nice.”

“You like me,” Magnus said with a teasing edge. “And have since college.”

Alec rolled his eyes, but his mouth was turning up in a smile, revealing his true feelings. “True. And you…” Alec prompted.

“Might feel the same,” Magnus said slowly.

“Since college?”

Magnus bit his lip and nodded. He didn’t realize how close they were standing again until Alec rested his free hand on Magnus’ waist, tugging him closer, grinning down at him. “So…”

“So?” Magnus teased, arching an eyebrow.

“Will you go out with me, Magnus Bane? On a date?”

Though he tried not to, Magnus couldn’t help but grin back at Alec as he nodded. “I would love to go on a date with you, Alexander.”

Alec’s smile turned soft, he brushed a strand of hair from Magnus’ face, sliding his hand into Magnus’ hair before leaning in slowly, their eyes locked. Their lips just touched when Magnus turned his head to the side, laughing as Alec’s lips landed on his cheek.

Alec huffed, shaking his head.

“We should finish the gingerbread house,” Magnus said, laughing again as he caught Alec’s eyes and overall disgruntled expression. “And I don’t kiss on a first date.”

Alec laughed, shaking his head. “But this isn’t our first date yet,” he pointed out.

Magnus inclined his head, lips pursed as he thought. “I suppose that’s true,” he said, tugging Alec close and kissing him soft and slow, slipping his tongue into Alec’s mouth for a moment before pulling back.

Turning away with a laugh at the dazed expression on Alec’s face, Magnus tugged Alec back toward the kitchen, feeling lighter than he had in days, face hurting as he tried to contain his wide smile. The last few days were forgotten. The tree twinkled in the corner, Church roamed around their feet, and the second gingerbread house was somehow still standing. Maybe Christmas miracles did exist.

***

“Ta-da,” Magnus said, throwing a handful of blue crystal sugar on the gingerbread house before stepping back to admire their work.

Alec narrowed his eyes, looking over their creation slowly.

“Stop it,” Magnus laughed, slapping him lightly on the chest.

“Stop what?”

“Looking like you’re waiting for it to collapse,” Magnus said with a pointed look.

Alec shrugged, rounding the counter to stand next to Magnus. “I’m just a little shocked. I mean, it looks…pretty good.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” Magnus said, his mouth turning down with a frown. Reaching out, Magnus poked the side of the gingerbread house. Alec held his breath, but the house didn’t collapse. They breathed out together, laughing softly.

“Maybe we’re not as bad as this as we think?” Magnus offered, turning to Alec with a wide smile.

Alec bit his lip on a grin when Magnus reached out, brushing a smidge of icing off Alec’s cheek. “Maybe,” Alec agreed. He gave into the smile as Magnus stepped close, bringing their lips together softly before pulling away. He glanced at his phone to check the time before sighing.

“I should probably go,” he said, turning back to Alec, wrapping his arms around Alec’s waist and staring up at him, eyes bright, a small smile turning up his mouth, making no move to go anywhere.

Alec couldn’t stop his own smile, wrapping his arms around Magnus. He hadn’t stopped smiling once over the last hour as they finished decorating the house, sharing glances and pausing every few minutes to steal kisses when they got distracted by each other and the sudden realization that they could kiss, if they wanted to. Which they did. Repeatedly.

“Big day tomorrow,” Alec agreed. “I’ll give you a key so you can set up. I need to get some writing done at the coffee shop before the party.”

Magnus nodded. “Sounds good,” he said, leaning up to bring their lips together once again.

Alec smiled into the kiss, his body relaxing against Magnus’ like they’d been doing this forever. Magnus moved closer, deepening the kiss before abruptly pulling away, leaving Alec breathless.

“I should really go,” Magnus said, eyes dark as he smirked at Alec who was struggling to remember how to form sentences.

“Right,” Alec nodded, forcing himself to step away from Magnus. Reaching into his pocket, he handed Magnus the key to his apartment so he could set up the party. They stared at each other for a moment, fighting smiles before Alec made himself turn away and head to the door, opening it for Magnus who stopped in the doorway, turning back and tugging Alec against him, their lips meeting like two magnets automatically pulled together.

Magnus’ hands slid through Alec’s hair, tugging him closer as Alec’s arms wrapped around Magnus’ waist. Their lips moved together, one moment a slow dragging, the next a heated frenzy until Alec finally pulled back, breathing heavy, resting his forehead against Magnus’.

“You should go,” he whispered, voice hoarse.

“But baby it’s cold outside?” Magnus asked, laughing breathlessly.

Alec groaned, arms dropping from around Magnus as he pulled away to give him a thoroughly unamused look. “You did not just say that.”

Magnus shrugged, beaming. He leaned in, pressing a light kiss to Alec’s lips before turning away. He walked across the hallway, turning back only once he reached his door.

“This was fun,” he said, eyes twinkling in the dim hallway light. “We should do it again some time.”

Alec laughed, shaking his head. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he called, stepping back to shut his door.

Alec hesitated with the door mostly shut before opening it once again. Magnus looked up from where he was unlocking his apartment. Seeing Alec in the doorway again, Magnus turned and crossed back to him. They met in the middle. Alec’s heart skipped like this wasn’t the dozenth time they’d kissed that night. He thought that he’d never get tired of the way it felt to kiss Magnus.

***

Magnus finally managed to make it back to his apartment late into the night, grinning as he curled up in bed with Chairman Meow. He slept easily and deeply, waking up late into the morning to eat a quick breakfast before going to set up the party. Alec’s apartment still needed a lot of work if he wanted this party to go off without a hitch. Part of Magnus was disappointed that Alec wouldn’t be around while he set up but the practical side knew that was for the best, neither of them would get any work done if he were there.

Magnus had had many relationships throughout his life, some weren’t as good as others, most were short-lived, and only a couple were close to love, but it’d never been like this before. He couldn’t stop smiling and there was something akin to butterflies — _butterflies_ — in his stomach. He just felt…happy. He felt the Christmas magic all around, a warm feeling in his chest, and excitement radiating through him. He’d never been with someone whose kiss he craved, who made him feel good just by being in the same room together. It was nice. More than nice.

Magnus shook his head, telling himself to focus but the smile on his face lingered no matter what he did.

He texted Alec updates throughout the day, laughing at the ones he received in return, informing him that Alec was procrastinating more than actually writing. Once everything in the apartment was perfect, Magnus went back to his place to shower and get changed. He found himself humming Christmas songs again and rolled his eyes but he didn’t stop.

***

Taking a sip of coffee, Alec winced and spit it back into the cup. It’d gone ice cold. Frowning, he glanced at the time before jumping up. Shit. He’d finally fallen into a groove with writing and he’d lost track of time. He was going to be late to his own housewarming party.

Leaving a tip on the table, Alec quickly packed up his stuff, sending Magnus a quick text on his way out of the coffee shop. He rushed back to the apartment, impatiently waiting on the elevator. Stepping out on their floor, he came up short as Magnus stepped out of his apartment at the other end of the hall.

Alec didn’t bother attempting to stifle the smile that crossed his face at the sight of Magnus. His heart skipped, his palms went sweaty, it was quite embarrassing if he were being honest but he didn’t even care. He’d been pining over Magnus Bane for ten years and finally, finally, they were doing something about it.

Magnus must’ve heard the elevator close as he looked up after locking his door, a small smile turning up his mouth as he saw Alec. Magnus turned, leaning back against his door as Alec approached.

“Fancy seeing you here,” Magnus said with a smirk.

Alec rolled his eyes. “I could say the same.”

Magnus snorted, reaching up and sliding his hand behind Alec’s neck when Alec was close enough, tugging him down into a soft kiss before pulling away with a frown. “Your face is freezing,” he accused.

Alec laughed, stepping closer to Magnus in an attempt to steal his warmth. “I know, it’s freezing outside,” he said, ducking to try to kiss Magnus again. Magnus turned his head, avoiding Alec with a laugh. Alec pouted but Magnus just shook his head, pulling away with a grin.

“Come on, your party’s about to start.”

Alec accepted Magnus’ hand, allowing himself to be tugged into his own apartment. Alec paused just inside the door, forgetting to breathe for a moment. Soft twinkle lights had been hung across the ceiling, a yellowish white that cast the room in a soft, winter glow. The curtains were opened to show the view outside. The tree looked better than Alec remembered with its colorful lights and red ribbons.

Alec stepped further into the apartment, staring around with wide eyes. Magnus had stuck to Alec’s wishes, keeping everything simple and classic. There was a silver reindeer on the coffee table, a glass one on the countertop where the food was spread out. An intricate glass snowflake matched it, set on another table that was crowded with desserts. There was garland tastefully placed and a few poinsettias even though Alec knew Magnus had a special hatred of the Christmas flower. More lights had been hung over the partition that hid Alec’s bed and there was no sign of an ice sculpture anywhere.

“So?” Magnus asked, turning to Alec. “What do you think?”

Alec looked around slowly once again before leaning in and kissing Magnus lightly. “It’s perfect.”

***

Magnus was filling glasses with mulled wine when Alec came up, taking the glass and ladle from him before taking him by the hand and tugging him out of the kitchen.

Amused, Magnus arched an eyebrow. “What are you doing?” he asked, following Alec through the mildly crowded apartment.

“You’re so busy working you aren’t enjoying the party,” Alec explained.

Magnus frowned, glancing around. There were around twenty people, Isabelle, Jace, Maia, Simon, Clary, Maryse, Max, and a dozen or so of Alec’s fellow writers along with his agent and a few various other people. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, talking, swaying lightly to the Christmas music playing in the background.

“I am working, you know,” Magnus pointed out, smiling softly as Alec tugged him around the back of the Christmas tree so they were mostly hidden from the rest of the room. “You’re paying me to do this.”

Alec rolled his eyes, turning to Magnus with a lazy grin. “That’s true,” he conceded. “But you’re also supposed to be my date and impress my friends and get my mother off my back.”

Magnus’ eyebrow raised even higher as he stepped close to Alec, wrapping his arms around Alec’s neck and bringing their faces close together. “Oh? Is that what this is about? You want to show me off,” he teased.

Alec just grinned, nodding. “Obviously,” he said, tilting his head to kiss Magnus softly.

Magnus pulled back. “We’re at your party,” he reminded Alec.

Alec widened his eyes innocently. “I know,” he said. “But it’s the rules.”

Magnus frowned, following Alec’s finger as he pointed up where a piece of mistletoe hung above them.

“Did you put that there? The only mistletoe I hung was in the kitchen.”

Looking back to Alec, Magnus found him staring at him with the least convincing innocent face in existence. Laughing, Magnus shook his head, ducking to kiss Alec lightly before pulling away. “Come on, big shot. Show me off.”

Magnus didn’t really mean it but Alec took the order seriously, leading Magnus straight to Maryse who stood talking with Isabelle near the desserts.

Maryse turned to them, smiling softly. Magnus was a little taken aback, he’d only met Maryse a handful of times but that wasn’t an expression he’d ever seen on her face. “Alexander,” she greeted, leaning in to kiss his cheek. “It’s a lovely party, dear.”

Alec hugged her lightly before turning to Magnus. He slipped his arm around Magnus’ back, resting his hand on the small of his back. “Thanks, but that was all Magnus,” Alec said. “Mom, you remember Magnus, right? We knew each other in college?”

Maryse turned to Magnus, the soft smile remaining on her face as she nodded. “Yes, of course. How are you, Magnus?”

A little shocked, Magnus accepted her hand, shaking it lightly before dropping it. Magnus shrugged. “Fine, and you?”

“Good. Good,” Maryse nodded, looking between Magnus and Alec slowly, a furrow to her brow. “Would I be right in assuming that this is your elusive boyfriend, Alexander?”

Magnus licked his lips, glancing at Alec out of the corner of his eyes to see him flushing slightly. Alec cleared his throat. “Yeah,” he said softly, then again, more sure. “Yes. Magnus is my boyfriend.”

Magnus arched an eyebrow, heart skipping. Alec stared at him, smiling softly before turning back to his family. Magnus reminded himself to breathe.

“How lovely,” Maryse grinned.

Magnus swallowed dryly. He caught a look passing between Isabelle and Alec, Isabelle raised her eyebrow in question and Alec nodded. Isabelle beamed, eyes shining. Magnus’ heart skipped about. They stayed there for a few minutes before Alec led Magnus over to a short, dark-haired woman he introduced as his agent, Tessa.

“This is Magnus Bane,” Alec said, hand once again resting on the small of Magnus’ back. “My boyfriend.”

***

“So?” Magnus asked, raising an eyebrow from the kitchen as Alec shut the door on the last of the guests. “Was I impressive enough?”

Alec laughed, crossing the room to Magnus, accepting the glass of mulled wine he’d been drinking, taking a sip before setting it down. “Always,” Alec said, eyes shining, lips turned a darker red from the wine.

Magnus grinned, shoulders swaying slightly back and forth.

“Look, Magnus,” Alec started. He paused, swallowing. He’d only realized after the third or fourth time of introducing Magnus as his boyfriend that they hadn’t exactly talked about that. He was worried he’d overstepped. He didn’t want to move too fast, rush things, and make Magnus uncomfortable. “I know we didn’t really have time to talk and — and I understand if you want to take things slow, I — I don’t want to rush but when I called you my boyfriend — I well. I do want you to be my boyfriend, but I understand if… if you aren’t there yet. We can—”

“Alexander?” Magnus asked, stepping close and resting his hand on Alec’s chest. His eyes were shining brightly in the twinkle lights, his mouth turned up in amusement.

“Yes?”

“Shut up,” Magnus whispered, grinning. Before Alec could think of how to respond, Magnus was ducking his head, leaning close and bringing their mouths together softly. Pulling back after a minute, Magnus met Alec’s eyes, pressing another soft peck to Alec’s lips before saying, “I want to be your boyfriend. I want to be with you,” he said, sounding completely sure. “I do think we should take things slow, but I want us to be on the same page. I’ve wanted this since that day in the hallway with the Christmas tree. I want to see what this is, between us.”

Alec swallowed dryly, nodding slowly. “I want that too.”

“Good,” Magnus smiled.

“Great,” Alec agreed, grinning so wide it hurt.

“I’m going to kiss you now.”

Alec laughed. “Finally.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, seriously I so appreciate all the comments everyone's been leaving and the great reactions to this fic. Love you all, hope you liked this, don't forget to comment and leave kudos, you can also yell at me on [Tumblr @imawriteriwrite](http://imawriteriwrite.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> We're getting close to the end! Next chapter has more Malec adorableness and possibly a share the bed trope...?


	11. Snow Kisses and Shared Beds

“I’m just saying, that wasn’t a complete story,” Alec repeated. “I mean what, it just ends just like that?”

“It’s a ballet, Alexander,” Magnus said, laughing softly as he watched Alec get more and more worked up. “It’s the Nutcracker, it’s a classic.”

“I know, but that would be like if Narnia ended as soon as they went through the wardrobe! Or Harry Potter ending right after he was sorted. Alice in Wonderland ending as soon as Alice got to Wonderland! Where’s the adventure, where’s the magic?”

Magnus shook his head slowly, staring at Alec in amusement, their hands swinging between them, locked together as they walked through the snow. “There was plenty of magic and adventure.”

“There was a little magic and barely any adventure,” Alec sighed. “I mean, where’s the story arc? Where’s the—”

Alec stopped abruptly as Magnus turned, stepping in front of him and holding his finger up to Alec’s lips. Alec narrowed his eyes, sighing. “I’m just saying,” he continued. Magnus shook his head, fighting off a smile as he let his hand fall. “That was only the beginning of a story and I feel cheated.”

Magnus laughed, leaning in to kiss Alec softly, forgetting all about the freezing cold New York night and the snow falling down all around them. “Only you, my darling, could find such a fault in a classic ballet like the Nutcracker,” Magnus said fondly, kissing Alec again before he could reply.

Pulling away, Magnus bit his lip at the slightly dazed looked on Alec’s face though he was sure his own expression matched it perfectly. He wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to kissing Alec, to the way it made his heart skip about, leaving him overflowing with happiness. Turning, they started walking again, hands still tightly entwined.

“You know,” Alec said as they walked along. “It wasn’t all that bad.”

“No?” Magnus asked, glancing over at him.

Alec shook his head, eyes shining under the bright New York lights. He had a black knit cap pulled low over his ears, his hair falling in his eyes under it, his nose was turning red in the cold and Magnus wanted nothing more in that moment that to tug Alec close, kissing until they were both warm all the way through. He resisted the urge, wanting to at least let Alec finish his thought first.

“No,” Alec said. “In fact, the part where I got to sit next to you in a dark theater for a couple hours was pretty spectacular.”

Magnus snorted, shaking his head. “I never knew you were such a sap, Alexander,” he said, continuing to walk when Alec stopped. Magnus turned to him, hands still clasped. Alec tugged him closer. Magnus followed willingly, tilting his head back to bring their lips together softly.

“I’m not a sap,” Alec said against Magnus’ lips. “At least, I’ve never been with anyone else.”

Magnus’ heart did a strange tumble in his chest, making him breathe in sharply. Then Alec was kissing him, fully distracting him. Even though they were on the street, even though it was freezing, Magnus stepped into Alec losing track of time as he wrapped his free arm around Alec’s back to hold him closer. It was below freezing and Magnus was slightly worried he might catch a cold but he couldn’t really bring himself to be bothered when Alec was kissing him. It was still three days until Christmas, but Magnus had everything he wanted right there, on the street corner in the snow.

***

The next night was the Lightwood Christmas party. Alec had been busy all day writing while Magnus spent the day fulfilling Christmas traditions with Raphael, Ragnor, and Catarina. So the first time Alec saw Magnus that day was when Magnus stepped out of his apartment, all dressed up for the Lightwood party which was known to be overly extravagant.

Alec’s breath got caught somewhere in the back of his throat as his eyes locked on Magnus. Magnus wore a tight, dark blue button-up under a black vest that he wore far too well. There were blue streaks in his hair, his eyes darkened with makeup, rings on every finger and necklaces of varying lengths around his neck. His dark pants fit far too well, and he was overall breath-taking. Not that that was anything new.

Magnus smiled at Alec, eyes quickly roaming up and down him. He’d thrown on a pair of his nicer pants and an expensive dark green sweater Isabelle had bought him last Christmas. He’d attempted to tame his hair somewhat but, overall, he hadn’t done much special.

“You look nice,” Magnus said, smiling softly.

Alec swallowed, clearing his throat. “I—thank you. You — you look nice as well.”

Magnus arched an eyebrow, smirking. Alec rolled his eyes, stepping close to Magnus and ducking to kiss him. Magnus offered his lips up easily, resting his hand on Alec’s cheek. It was a soft kiss. Pulling back, Alec breathed in deeply, enjoying being close to Magnus before stepping away.

Magnus linked their hands together and they turned, heading toward the elevator. Alec swallowed dryly, fighting a smile. Everything was so easy. This, them. They seemed to fit perfectly, effortlessly. He didn’t know why they’d put it off so long though part of him was glad. Back in college, Alec wanted Magnus, yes, more than anything. But he wasn’t sure it would’ve worked out back then. Maybe Magnus was right. Maybe Alec would’ve gone to Seattle no matter what. Maybe they needed that time to grow before they could finally find their way to each other. Either way, it didn’t matter really. They were here now. They’d figured it out and they’d keep figuring it out. If Magnus could convince him to love Christmas, surely anything was possible.

***

“Who planned this? I mean honestly, paper plates? The decorations are decent but so...tacky,” Magnus said, wrinkling his nose as he looked around Lightwood manor. He’d been there half a dozen times but always successfully avoided the annual Christmas party until now. Everything was red and silver, tinsel covered the tree, making Magnus wince, and poinsettias were on every side table.

“You’re only salty because you know you could’ve done better,” Alec chided gently.

Magnus shrugged. “It’s true. Though, in my defensive, a clever monkey could’ve done better.”

Alec laughed, turning to stifle the sound in Magnus’ shoulder. Magnus smiled, forgetting to be annoyed at the mediocre decorations. They’d only just arrived, a little late by the looks of things, which was entirely Alec’s fault Magnus maintained. He had not been the one to lean across the seats in the car and kiss Alec, Alec had been the one to lean. Therefore, it was Alec’s fault they got distracted for five or ten or twenty minutes.

Lightwood Manor opened on a large entryway, to the left was the living area where the furniture had been moved out for the night, leaving only the Christmas tree — which was silver with red decorations, making Magnus further wince — in the corner, in front of the large windows. Through another door, was the kitchen, where servants wandered around, carrying out flutes of champagne and platters of finger foods. There was plenty of room for everyone with a few chairs here and there for sitting and enjoying yourself. There were a few dozen people around. Isabelle and Simon could be heard laughing in the kitchen, while Jace and Clary sat off in the corner, talking. Max had apparently convinced Maia to dance with him and they were twirling about the middle of the room.

Alec led Magnus along the outskirts, hiding behind well-dressed men and women as they looked around.

Catching a waiter, Alec grabbed two flutes of champagne, turning back to Magnus with a soft smile as he handed one over. Magnus smirked, stepping close so their shoulders touched.

“Merry Christmas Eve Eve,” Magnus said, tapping their glasses together.

Alec snorted, rolling his eyes. “’Christmas eve eve’?” he asked, sipping his drink.

Magnus shrugged. “It’s a thing. It’s almost as important as Christmas Eve.”

“What about Christmas Eve Eve _Eve_?” Alec asked, completely serious.

Magnus smirked. “Also important, though not as important as Christmas Eve Eve.”

“Ah,” Alec said nodding. “Of course.”

Magnus shook his head, sipping his champagne, eyes roaming over the room. “Are we supposed to mingle?” he asked.

Alec glanced around, sighing. “Mom will find us eventually. She’ll drag us around to brag to her friends, about my writing, about you—”

“Me?” Magnus frowned.

Alec nodded, smirking. “Of course. She’s gotten very into bragging about us all, since the divorce. She’s become more…motherly. It’s nice, except for the bragging. And, since you’re here as my boyfriend, you’ll be a part of it,” Alec explained simply. “Poor Simon was so flustered the first time he came to one of these things after he and Izzy started dating. Jace and Clary are hiding out — smart. When they got engaged, Clary was pulled from person to person, showing off the ring.”

Magnus winced. “I had no idea. You know,” he said, touching his stomach lightly. “I suddenly don’t feel so well,” he teased.

Alec shook his head. “Nope, sorry, I can’t let you get out of this. This is what you have to deal with at Christmas, awkward family gatherings.”

Magnus sighed. “I knew this Christmas thing would bite me in the ass at some point.”

Alec grinned, leaning in and kissing Magnus’ cheek. “It won’t be that bad,” he said, whispering in Magnus’ ear, his breath warm, making Magnus shiver.

“I don’t believe you,” Magnus replied, kissing Alec’s cheek before pulling back. “You’ll owe me for this, you realize.”

Alec smirked, raising an eyebrow. “Oh? I will?”

Magnus nodded, sipping his champagne without looking away from Alec’s hazel eyes. “Yup.”

“And just what will I owe you?” he asked.

“A dance.”

***

“There you are,” Isabelle said, stepping into the kitchen.

Alec looked up from where he was getting him and Magnus each a glass of punch. “Here I am,” he confirmed.

Isabelle snorted. “Enjoying the party?”

Alec rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah. Mom’s already introduced us to everyone in the house, reminding them that my book has been on the times’ bestseller list for however many weeks it is now — how does she remember how many weeks it is? Even I can’t. Not to mention my boyfriend, Magnus Bane, who she also brags about. How did she even find out so much about him?” Alec asked, shaking his head.

Isabelle smirked, shrugging. “She has her ways.”

“I’m beginning to see where you get it from,” Alec teased, sliding her a glass of punch across the countertop.

Isabelle laughed, throwing her head back. “I always wondered.”

Alec shook his head, looking up to find her smiling at him with a strange look on her face. “What?”

Isabelle shrugged, popping a cherry from a dish next to the punch bowl into her mouth. “Nothing,” she said. “You just…seem happy, is all.”

Alec narrowed his eyes, watching her closely. “And?”

“And nothing,” Isabelle laughed, throwing the cherry stem in his face. “It’s just good to see you so happy. I mean, you haven’t been unhappy but… I’ve never seen you like this before, not with any of your previous boyfriends.”

Alec swallowed dryly, shrugging. He opened his mouth but couldn’t think of anything to say.

Isabelle reached out, squeezing his shoulder. “I’m happy for you, Alec. And not only because we made a new bet and I won.”

Alec tossed a cherry at her, shaking his head. “You’re a great sister, Isabelle.”

Isabelle grinned, waving as she made her way out of the kitchen. “I know.”

***

“You seem happy,” Clary said.

Magnus looked up from his phone, smiling softly without meaning to, hazel eyes flashing through his mind. Magnus’ life had been good for a while now, filled with great friends, a job he loved, a business that was taking off far better than he could’ve ever hoped. And, despite not having someone special to share it with, he’d never felt like he was missing something. And yet still, he felt like he’d finally found the missing piece. He’d finally figured out the answer to that insistent what if question that always lingered in the back of his mind no matter where he was or who he was with. And while it was much too early to know if this would last, if it was more than just fun, Magnus was confident that he was heading in the exact direction he was supposed to be. If nothing else, he was content to just be happy for as long as this lasted.

“I am,” he finally said, voice soft.

Clary bumped into his shoulder, smiling. “I’m glad.”

Magnus looked back to his phone, rolling his eyes at a text from Catarina when a shadow fell over him. He looked up to find Alec smirking at him, holding his hand out.

Slipping his phone away, Magnus arched an eyebrow.

“I do believe I owe you a dance.”

***

No one was paying attention to the weather so they didn’t notice the snow until it was too late. It was coming down fast and showed no sign of letting up. Maryse offered them all rooms for the night after checking the news and finding out most the roads back to the city had been shut due to the storm. Alec didn’t really mind as it meant not having to drive back to the city in the middle of the night. That was, until he realized the one thing he’d overlooked. Maryse had put them in Alec’s old room together. Where there was only one bed. They’d only been dating for two days, they hadn’t exactly gotten around to…sharing the bed.

Standing in his old room that looked smaller than he remembered, Alec stared down at the full-size bed with a frown. The room was mostly empty, filled with bookshelves bereaved of books since he’d moved out. A few old posters hung on the walls, a few old shirts and various things he’d stored or left there during visits over the years filled the closet. The bed was made with a red comforter for Christmas, fresh sheets on it, ready for Alec to spend Christmas Eve there like every year.

Magnus was in the bathroom, changing into an old pair of Alec’s sweats and an old tshirt. Alec had quickly changed in the room into his own old pair of sweats and white tshirt. He stood contemplating the bed until the door opened behind him and Magnus stepped in.

Magnus smiled at him before appearing to notice Alec’s frown. His brow furrowed in confusion until he noticed what Alec had been looking at. Magnus smirked. “I don’t bite,” he teased, shutting the door behind him but moving no further into the room. “And I’m only a minor blanket hog.”

Alec cleared his throat, shaking his head. He was being stupid. “Good to know,” he said, going for casual and falling short. He cleared his throat again, glancing away from Magnus, from the low hanging sweats and tight black shirt he wore, swallowing dryly. “I can sleep on the couch, downstairs,” he offered, blurting out the words before thinking them through.

“Oh,” Magnus said, frowning as he pushed off the door. “I mean, if you want,” he quickly continued. “But you don’t have to, if you don’t want to.”

Alec looked up, meeting Magnus’ dark brown eyes. He looked soft and inviting, no hint of teasing in his eyes or anywhere else on his face. Alec breathed in deeply, shaking his head. “No,” he said. “No. I’m fine sharing. If you are.”

Magnus smiled softly, nodding. “So, we’ll share the bed.”

Alec nodded. “Yup. Yes. Sounds good.”

Magnus smirked, turning and crossing to the other side of the bed. He pulled back the covers, looking up at Alec with a raised eyebrow. Alec cleared his throat, moving towards the bed. He didn’t know why he was being so weird, this wasn’t a big deal. It wasn’t like anything was going to happen between them, they were one room over from Isabelle and Simon. And it wasn’t like he was opposed to anything happening between them, he did want that, but not yet. He didn’t want to rush things. He wanted to do them right. Because… Because this was Magnus and he’d been waiting for this for what felt like all of his life.

It was just a bed. They were just sleeping. It was perfectly fine. No reason to freak out.

Alec turned out the light, sliding into the bed next to Magnus before he could freak himself out even more. Alec laid on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Magnus was a few inches away, their bodies not touching at any point, staring up at the ceiling as well.

Alec was aware that he wasn’t breathing normally and let the air out of his lungs, rolling his eyes at himself.

“We’re being ridiculous,” Magnus sighed a few minutes later, rolling over on his side to face Alec. Alec did the same, relaxing when his eyes adjusted to the dark and he found Magnus smiling at him.

“This feels weird, right?” Magnus asked softly.

Alec laughed and nodded.

“It shouldn’t feel weird,” Magnus said, shaking his head. He scooted closer, finding Alec’s hand under the blanket and tangling their fingers together, slipping his feet between Alec’s. Alec breathed easier suddenly, sliding closer as well until there was only a breath of space between their bodies and their breath was mingling.

“It’s a good weird,” Alec said softly.

Magnus’ eyes shined in the dark. He nodded, “It is a good weird,” he agreed, leaning in to kiss Alec softly. Their lips met and the rest of the tension between them evaporated. It was a soft kiss, their lips pressing together for a minute before parting.

Magnus snuggled down into his pillow, smiling at Alec, whose heart skipped painfully. “Good night, Alexander.”

Alec laid his head back on his pillow, watching Magnus’ eyes close, thumb rubbing circles across the back of Magnus’ hand. “Good night, Magnus. Merry Christmas Eve Eve.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I honestly can't believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve, like honestly. This month. I can't even. One. Chapter. Left. What??? How did that happen??? Seriously, thank you all for reading and commenting, your support means the world to me. I hope everyone's been having a good holiday and the last chapter will be up tomorrow and will include the date Alec has been secretly planning. ;)
> 
> Don't forget to comment and let me know what you think, you can also yell at me on [Tumblr @imawriteriwrite](http://imawriteriwrite.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> <3<3<3


	12. A Christmas Eve Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus and Alec have their first date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you for reading this and all your comments, you've helped me survive this holiday season and honestly, for those of you who read all my stuff, this whole year. You keep me going when writing is driving me insane and I truly appreciate you. I hope everyone who celebrates has an amazing holiday and anyone who doesn't has a great Monday. <3<3<3

Magnus shivered, waking up slowly as he realized how _cold_ it was. Rolling over, he was briefly surprised to come up against another body, tensing before relaxing as he remembered who it was. _Alec._ Opening his eyes, Magnus smiled lazily at Alec who was still sleeping softly next to him, his hair sticking up every which way, expression soft and relaxed, mouth tilted up in a small smile.

Magnus breathed slowly, letting his eyes fall closed again. This was not how he’d thought he’d wake up on Christmas Eve, in bed with Alexander Lightwood but really, he could think of no better place to find himself.

Magnus had a tradition of buying himself something he’d been pining over every year for Christmas. It didn’t have to be expensive, just something he’d been wanting but kept putting off buying. He’d go out every Christmas Eve and finally buy it, whether it be a new phone or a shirt he’d been eyeing. One year it was Chairman Meow though Magnus hadn’t bought him but rather found him out in the cold, abandoned and alone. Magnus had given himself the gift of keeping the Chairman, something he’d been thankful for every year since. The point being, Magnus had been trying all month to figure out what he’d buy himself this year and had yet to come up with anything. Scooting down in the bed, pulling the comforter up more firmly around him as he slipped his hand into Alec’s, Magnus thought that maybe this would be his gift to himself this year. Of course, Magnus couldn’t just give himself Alec. He could, however, give himself permission to let go. Fall into this head first without a backwards look. He could decide not to worry if it would crash and burn and just hope for the best, go in with his heart open and his mind devoid of worry. It was, after all, something he’d been pining over since college and never let himself even attempt to have.

Magnus shivered again, pulled from his thoughts at the reminder that it was _freezing_. He opened his eyes, smiling when he saw that Alec was awake now, staring back at him.

They stared at each other for a few minutes, the house around them was quiet, the room silent save for their breathing. Magnus’ mouth quirked up in a smile even though he tried to deny it. Alec grinned.

“Morning,” Alec whispered.

“Morning,” Magnus parroted. Leaning in, he brought their lips together softly in an open mouthed kiss. His heart skipped about, his pulse echoed through his mind. Alec’s hand tightened on his. Magnus pulled back with a smile, staring into Alec’s shining eyes. “Happy Christmas Eve.”

Alec smiled, kissing Magnus again softly before repeating, “Happy Christmas Eve.”

The quiet moment shattered when Magnus shivered again. He pressed close to Alec, attempting to steal his warmth. Alec laughed, wrapping his arm around Magnus.

“Cold?”

“It’s freezing,” Magnus replied, grumpily.

Alec shrugged, dropping a kiss on Magnus’ head. “I hadn’t noticed.”

***

“As much as I’m really, truly, thoroughly enjoying this,” Alec said an hour or so after first waking up. “We should get going.”

Magnus frowned, looking up from where their hands were clasped, resting over his chest. They’d spent the last hour or so just lying in bed, talking softly, huddled close for warmth. Alec really didn’t want to leave the bed ever, the calm happiness that surrounded him was a new feeling he never wanted to forget. But he had plans and he didn’t want them to get messed up.

“Where are we going?” Magnus asked.

Alec sat up, leaning over to kiss Magnus before slipping out of bed. “It’s a surprise.”

Magnus arched an eyebrow, appearing intrigued. “For me?”

“No, for Chairman Meow,” Alec snarked. Magnus rolled his eyes. “Yes, for you.”

Magnus considered Alec for a moment before climbing out of bed with a sigh. “It better be good.”

Alec laughed, catching Magnus around the waist and pulling him to a stop. Magnus looked annoyed for half a second before tilting his head up to kiss Alec.

“Trust me, you’ll love it,” Alec whispered against his lips.

***

Magnus eyed Alec across the booth, a crease between his brows, eyes narrowed — it was a good look — a powerful look. And yet Alec completely ignored it. He stared down at the menu, humming along to the Christmas music that played over the radio at the diner, all but ignoring Magnus. The worst part, the part that made Magnus’ look slowly turn to a glare, was that he was smiling, his eyebrow arched in challenge.

Magnus refused to give in. Refused to break. He would wear Alec out eventually. The waitress came, taking their orders — they both got the Christmas pancake special — before leaving them be once again.

Alec finally turned to Magnus, eyebrow arched, small smile playing across his face. “You don’t have any plans today, right?” Alec asked suddenly, smile falling from his face for a moment.

Magnus narrowed his eyes but shook his head. “No. We’re doing Christmas at Ragnor’s tomorrow but I’m all yours today.”

Alec smiled in relief. “Good.”

Magnus arched an eyebrow. “Are you going to tell me why we had to leave the warm bed or not? Because I have a warm bed back at my apartment and I might blow you off for it,” Magnus threatened.

Alec snorted, shaking his head. He took a drink of coffee before looking back at Magnus. “I still owe you a date,” he finally said.

Magnus frowned.

“I asked you on a date and you said yes,” Alec reminded him. “But I never said when the date was.”

“So… You’re taking me on a date, today? Is this it? Because, if so, you truly know the way to my heart, Alexander,” Magnus said, completely serious as their pancakes were set before them.

Alec laughed, handing Magnus the syrup across the table. “This is part of it,” he said.

“Only part? How long is this date, because I have things to do,” Magnus teased, drowning his pancakes in syrup.

“You just said you were mine today,” Alec pointed out, flushing when he realized how that came out. “I mean—”

“I know what you mean,” Magnus smirked. “And you’re right, I did say that.”

Alec shook his head, laughing breathlessly. “Just…trust me, okay? You’re going to love this date.”

Magnus hummed thoughtfully, nodding his head as he chewed. “Okay. I trust you,” he said, staring up into Alec’s soft hazel eyes, mirroring Alec’s smile. Magnus hadn’t thought a day that started with him waking up in bed next to Alec could get even better, but apparently, he was wrong.

***

Alec had thrown together the date quickly, but he’d been thinking about it for days. Magnus had done so much for him this month, some of it failed sure — the cookies, for instance — but he did his best to share his excitement for Christmas with Alec and somehow, impossibly, it had worked. Magnus loved Christmas so much, had convinced Alec to love it too, and now Alec wanted to give him the best Christmas Eve possible.

After some thought (and talking with Isabelle, of course) Alec had determined that the most cliched Christmas Eve possible would be perfect for Magnus. So they started at the diner, from there they’d go to Alec’s least favorite place in the world — the mall, on Christmas eve, the thing of nightmares — where they’d build stuffed bears and do last minute shopping they didn’t really have to do but it was part of the experience. They’d get hot chocolate and go ice skating, because, while they’d already done the ice skating thing, it was even more cliché to do it on Christmas Eve. They’d go back to Alec’s and bake cookies — Alec had bought the pre-made kind that you merely had to put in the oven — and watch Love Actually which Alec had never seen before but Isabelle insisted on. Then they’d wrap presents before heading back to Lightwood Manor for a big Christmas Eve dinner complete with awkward questions and stilted conversation Isabelle promised to help provide.

Alec was fairly proud of the plan altogether, but it was a lot to do, hence the early start.

Magnus shook his head, looking at Alec like he was crazy as they stood outside the mall. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Come on,” Alec said, taking Magnus’ hand. “I’m trying to provide a quality Christmas Eve here, last minute shopping included.”

Magnus shook his head again but let Alec tug him inside. They walked close together, hands held tightly as they were jostled from every side. Despite having not looked forward to this part of the plan at all, Alec found himself enjoying it, laughing at Magnus’ exaggerated looks as they made their way through the stores.

They bought useless items at half a dozen shops, talking idly as they stood in line.

Magnus picked out a plain teddy bear, at build-a-bear, dressing it all in black including a leather jacket, and adding a book accessory before showing it to Alec with a wide grin. “It’s you,” he snorted, full on laughing when Alec gave him an unimpressed look.

They strolled through the mall with all the excitement of someone who didn’t actually have to be doing last minute shopping, feeling sorry for the stressed shoppers even while they enjoyed themselves.

Stopping for hot chocolate, Magnus turned to Alec, eyes narrowed, mouth a firm line. “So…” he said. “This is what, a cliché filled Christmas Eve?”

Alec hesitated before nodding, suddenly unsure of himself. He had no reason to be though as, not even a moment later, Magnus was beaming, shaking his head at Alec. “I love it,” he said, leaning in to kiss Alec, grinning widely.

Alec laughed, relieved as he kissed Magnus back.

“What’s next?” Magnus asked, pulling away quickly as the barista handed them their hot chocolates.

“Just wait.”

***

Magnus had always loved Christmas and he’d had some pretty spectacular Christmas Eve’s, including the time he and Ragnor had gone to Peru and subsequently gotten banned and the time he and Raphael had gone clubbing all night and — long story short, that was the only Christmas he couldn’t remember. But this Christmas Eve had a special feel to it. Despite having his fair share of relationships, Magnus had never had a significant other on Christmas before and, even if he had, he didn’t think it would feel like this.

Alec, who, until a few days before, had been the biggest Grinch in the world, was taking Magnus around the city, doing the most cliched things imaginable and Magnus couldn’t stop grinning. They went ice skating, Alec holding on tight to Magnus the whole time even though he wasn’t in as much danger of falling this time around.

Back at Alec’s apartment, Magnus laughed when Alec pulled out the already made cookie dough. “You don’t trust our cookie making abilities?” he accused, feigning hurt.

Alec looked up from preheating the oven, giving Magnus a blank look. “Do you?”

Magnus shrugged. “The gingerbread house turned out okay.”

“We lost the contest,” Alec said flatly. “And it tasted terrible.”

“Why would you taste it? We made it, of course it tastes terrible!”

Alec laughed, shaking his head. Magnus’ heart skipped, he loved Alec’s laugh. “See, this is why I bought the pre-made stuff, we’re terrible at this.”

Magnus sighed, blinking up at Alec under lowered lashes. “We just need more practice,” he insisted.

“Oh? More practice?” Alec asked, reaching out for Magnus.

Magnus laughed, stepping closer, into Alec, wrapping one arm around Alec’s back. “Yup.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Alec whispered, sliding his hand up, cupping Magnus’ cheek.

“I thought so,” Magnus agreed, breathless as Alec leaned closer, hovering so their lips were just about to touch. Everything was still so new, every touch felt electrifying, every kiss stole his breath before their lips even touched. Magnus’ eyes drifted closed as he breathed Alec in before tilting his head to close that last distance.

Alec turned his head at the last moment. Magnus opened his eyes, glaring. “Ass,” he said.

Alec smirked. “I thought you don’t kiss on a first date?”

Magnus rolled his eyes. “I can make an exception,” he said, voice low and flirty.

“Yeah?”

Magnus nodded. Alec smiled softly, stroking Magnus’ cheek with his thumb before leaning in again. This time Magnus turned away right as their lips touched, laughing as he stepped away from Alec. “I said I could make an exception, not that I would,” he teased.

Alec sighed, turning to grab out the cookie sheets. “Fine,” he said. “I can wait.”

“Oh, you can, can you?” Magnus joked, opening the cookie dough.

Alec nodded, turning to Magnus with a crooked smile. “For you? I’d wait forever.”

Magnus snorted, ignoring the way his heart lurched. “Sap,” he smirked.

“Only for you,” Alec shrugged.

Magnus shook his head, focusing on his task and reminding himself to breathe. He’d thought it was hard before, being Alec’s friend and wanting more. Being with Alec might literally be the death of him, however. At least it would be a sweet death.

***

The cookies came out perfect, all but the last batch. Alec blamed Magnus entirely for that though as Magnus was the one to feed Alec a cookie only to follow with his mouth as soon as Alec had swallowed. It wasn’t his fault that he was so easily distracted by Magnus’ lips. The kiss started off soft and slow, ending with their tongues clashing, lips parting before meeting again, Magnus’ hands sliding up Alec’s shirt, while Alec’s back was pressed against the counter behind them. He lost track of time quickly and, apparently, they were too distracted to hear the timer.

Magnus was the one to pull back, pupils blown wide, lips kiss swollen. “Is something burning?” he asked.

Alec shook his head, not processing the words as he leaned in to kiss Magnus again. Their lips were just meeting, brushing together with a softness that made Alec’s heart ache when Alec finally processed the words, his brain slowly catching up.

“The cookies!” he said, pulling away and turning to the oven. They were impressively burnt.

After they got through laughing at yet another baking catastrophe, they took the unburnt cookies to the living room, curling up on the couch with a blanket even though it was still mid-day. Alec barely paid attention to the movie, much more focused on Magnus leaning against him, giving colorful commentary of the entire movie, their hands clasped loosely the whole time. Alec realized then just how easy it was to get used to this and found himself wondering if maybe, just maybe, they could be here this time next year, curled up, watching Love Actually, with the smell of burnt cookies filling the air, Church — who, Alec’s agent had decided, would be staying with Alec indefinitely as he liked Alec more than he’d ever liked Tessa — glaring at them from under the Christmas tree until they rearranged themselves to have room on the couch for him. It was just…really nice.

Alec couldn’t think of a single Christmas Eve that was better than this one.

***

“Stay still,” Magnus laughed. He rested on top of Alec, straddling his waist as he finished tying the ribbon around Alec’s arms, adding a bow to Alec’s head for good measure, laughing at Alec’s steely glare all the while. He’d started with green wrapping paper that had reindeer on it, wrapping that around Alec’s torso before adding ribbon and now the bow. When he was done, Magnus sat back to look over his work, smirking widely. “Perfect,” he declared, reaching out to smooth the furrow between Alec’s brows.

Alec shook his head, laughing softly. “Happy now?”

“Ecstatic,” Magnus said, leaning back close until their noses touched.

“So,” Alec said, voice turning low as he tilted his head up, eyes locked with Magnus’. “Now that you’ve got me where you want me…”

“What am I going to do with you?” Magnus finished with a smirk.

“That, Alexander,” Magnus said, rubbing their noses together softly before ducking to kiss Alec, pulling back after a moment, leaving Alec breathless. “Is a very good question.”

Alec leaned in, recapturing Magnus’ mouth with a firm, searing kiss that made Magnus’ heart leap about like crazy. Pulse racing, body quickly heating. Magnus pulled back with a teasing smirk, pressing his finger to Alec’s lips and shaking his head. Alec moved, ripping the paper easily and freeing himself. They fell to the ground with a laugh, Magnus tugging Alec’s lips back to his once again. The laughter cut off as quick as it had come as they thoroughly explored each other’s mouths. When Alec started kissing down Magnus’ neck, Magnus laughed.

“I thought we were supposed to be wrapping presents?” he teased, tugging Alec back to his mouth to kiss him softly. “Not that I don’t love what we’re doing it’s only that,” he continued, pausing every few words to kiss Alec again, hands roaming up under Alec’s shirt. “You mentioned something about a strict schedule.”

Alec sighed, pushing himself away from Magnus. “Yes. Right. Of course.”

“Wait,” Magnus said, tugging Alec back down. “I think we can spare just another minute,” he offered, kissing Alec softly. “Or two,” he added, kissing him again. “Maybe even three.”

Alec laughed. “Or four,” he said, sliding his hand back through Magnus’ hair, holding him close as they kissed. Definitely the best Christmas ever, Magnus decided then. It would be hard to beat next year.

***

After dinner with everyone, Alec nodded to the door, holding his hand out to Magnus.

“There’s more?” Magnus laughed. “I don’t think I can move, I ate too much.”

“Come on,” Alec said, making his eyes wider, nearly pouting. “The next part is the best.”

Magnus sighed, shaking his head. He stood, crossing the room and taking Alec’s hand. “This is really unfair you know.”

“How so?” Alec asked, stopping at the door to pull his coat on. Calling to the others that they’d be back soon, they stepped out into the snow. The air was bitter, making Alec’s lungs ache but he hardly noticed when Magnus took his hand again as they walked down the driveway.

“Because, now I’m going to have to attempt to top this date with the next one. Unfair.”

“Oh? So there’s going to be a next one?”

Magnus rolled his eyes. “If you’re lucky,” he teased.

Alec found himself closing his eyes for a moment breathing deeply, the icy air freezing his lungs. _Please be lucky enough_ he thought. “Oh yeah? What if I say no?” he countered.

Magnus snorted.

“What?” Alec stopped to turn to Magnus, mouth falling open. “You don’t think I’ll say no?”

Magnus shrugged, a teasing glint to his eyes though the rest of his face was serious. “I mean, you could but you have been pining for me since college, so I doubt you will.”

“Oh yeah? Well, you’ll just have to wait and see,” Alec smirked.

Magnus arched an eyebrow, stepping closer. They’d barely gone farther than a few steps down the street but Alec's plan was far from his mind as Magnus rested his hands on Alec’s hips, staring up into his eyes with a small, sexy smile. Shoulders swaying, he leaned up close until his breath brushed Alec’s face, making Alec shiver.

“Alexander,” he all but purred, voice low and sinful. “Will you go out with me?”

Alec swallowed before coughing to clear his throat. He meant to continue with the charade, he really did, but he just couldn’t. “Yes,” he said, rolling his eyes when Magnus broke into a wide grin, chuckling at him. “Yeah, yeah. I’m weak. Can I kiss you now?”

Magnus was still laughing when he nodded, leaning in to bring their mouths together before Alec could. Alec’s breath hitched, somehow surprised by the kiss. Warmth flooded his body, all the way down to his toes even as snow fell on his head. He tugged Magnus closer, wrapping his arms around his waist, letting the warmth of Magnus completely drown out the freezing air of the winter night.

“Weren’t we going somewhere?” Magnus asked after taking a minute to breathe once they parted, eyes opening slowly.

Alec nodded, letting Magnus go to start back down the street. Magnus took Alec’s hand again, making Alec’s heart skip around. He shook his head, he was starting to sound like a cliched character from one of his earliest books.

Alec lead the way down the street, turning further into the neighborhood. It was a rich, fancy neighborhood that tended to go all out on decorating for the holidays. Most people drove, but Alec didn’t mind the cold with Magnus pressed close to his side and it didn’t seem to bother Magnus either as he smiled at the lights.

They walked around for a half hour or so, until the cold had turned their noses red and their hands were numb where they were still clasped together.

Magnus stopped at the end of the driveway, turning to Alec with a thoughtful look on his face. He was opening his mouth to talk when the first snowball hit them. It exploded against Alec’s side, splashing onto Magnus who shouted, quickly moving to duck behind Alec as Isabelle, Clary, Jace, Simon, Max, and even Maryse came out from where they were hiding behind the cars, releasing a volley of snowballs on the two of them.

Alec shouted, battling with Magnus to use him as a shield while Magnus attempted to do the same. Alec tugged Magnus behind him, towards the porch where they ducked down, hiding behind the short wall encasing the porch.

Alec was breathing heavy, smiling wide. He turned to Magnus whose eyes were narrowed in a glare as he listened to the others shouting at each other to get them.

“It’s to be war,” Magnus said, turning and tugging Alec close into a rushed kiss before pulling away and diving back out into the front yard. Alec nearly choked on a laugh, following him a moment later.

They lost the war, there were too many enemies, but it didn’t really feel like a loss when it ended with Alec lying in the snow, Magnus on top of him, kissing softly as the others booed at them and went back inside. They only lingered a moment, freezing, but it was worth it, Alec thought, even if he ended up with a cold in the morning.

***

After showering, Magnus found Alec on his couch, in front of the fireplace, near the Christmas tree. Magnus joined him, dressed in his red candy cane Christmas pajamas. Alec himself was wearing green candy cane pajamas that Magnus had bought him and given him as an early Christmas present. The drive home from Alec’s mothers’ had been cold as they were both soaked from the snow but far from miserable as they laughed and sung along to Christmas songs. Magnus had been happier than he was willing to admit when Alec accepted his offer of coming over for a night cap after they’d both showered to warm up.

Magnus sat down on the couch next to Alec, legs folded under him, turned to face Alec who handed him a still steaming mug of hot chocolate. Magnus smiled, breathing in the rich, chocolatey fumes with just a hint of peppermint.

They drank silently for a few minutes, watching the fire and each other as Chairman Meow curled up on the carpet before the fireplace, sound asleep.

Finally, Magnus looked up at Alec, searching carefully for the words to say what he wanted to say before settling on the simplest way. “Thank you.”

Alec frowned, eyes crinkling adorably. “For what?”

Magnus shrugged. “For the hot chocolate and the pancakes and cookies and the lights,” he rambled, shaking his head. “For everything. Today was…the perfect Christmas Eve.”

Alec smiled, flushing slightly, eyes shifting away and then back again. “You’re welcome,” he finally said. “And thank you.”

“For what?”

Alec set his mug aside before taking Magnus’ and doing the same. Magnus shifted closer, taking Alec’s hand as Alec turned to him, drawing him nearer. “For showing me the magic of Christmas. For making me believe in it again,” Alec whispered.

Magnus grinned, leaning in to brush their lips together lightly. “It was my pleasure,” he said before cupping Alec’s face and bringing their lips together in a soft, perfect kiss.

Alec pulled back when his phone buzzed, glancing at it quickly before smiling up at Magnus. “It’s officially Christmas,” he said, showing Magnus his phone that showed it was just a few minutes past midnight.

“Merry Christmas, Magnus.”

Magnus rolled his eyes, tugging Alec back in for another kiss. “Merry Christmas, Alexander.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Don't forget to comment and let me know your favorite part and if you enjoyed this. I can also be yelled at on [Tumblr @imawriteriwrite](http://imawriteriwrite.tumblr.com/)!  
> And I'll be back with a new fic and updates for my other fics, soon!  
> <3<3<3


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